Sample records for calculated potential energy

Free energies of molecules can be calculated by quantum chemistry computations or by normal mode classical calculations. However, the first can be computationally impractical for large molecules and the second is based on the assumption of harmonic dynamics. We present a novel, accurate and complete calculation of molecular free energies in standard classical potentials. In this method we transform the molecule by relaxing potential terms which depend on the coordinates of a group of atoms in that molecule and calculate the free energy difference associated with the transformation. Then, since the transformed molecule can be treated as non-interacting systems, the free energy associated with these atoms is analytically or numerically calculated. This two-step calculation can be applied to calculate free energies of molecules or free energy difference between (possibly large) molecules in a general environment. We demonstrate the method in free energycalculations for methanethiol and butane molecules in vacuum and solvent. We suggest the potential application of free energycalculation of chemical reactions in classical molecular simulations.

A potentialenergy interpolation approach based on modified Shepard interpolation and specifically designed for calculation of vibrational states is presented. The importance of the choice of coordinates for the rate of convergence is demonstrated. Studying the vibrational states of the water molecule as a test case, a coordinate system comprised of inverse bond distances and trigonometric functions of the bond angle is found to be particularly efficient. Different sampling schemes used to locate the reference points in the modified Shepard interpolation are investigated. A final scheme is recommended, which allows the construction of potentialenergy surfaces to sub-wave-number accuracy.

We develop an efficient sampling and free energycalculation technique within the adaptive biasing potential (ABP) framework. By mollifying the density of states we obtain an approximate free energy and an adaptive bias potential that is computed directly from the population along the coordinates of the free energy. Because of the mollifier, the bias potential is "nonlocal", and its gradient admits a simple analytic expression. A single observation of the reaction coordinate can thus be used to update the approximate free energy at every point within a neighborhood of the observation. This greatly reduces the equilibration time of the adaptive bias potential. This approximation introduces two parameters: strength of mollification and the zero of energy of the bias potential. While we observe that the approximate free energy is a very good estimate of the actual free energy for a large range of mollification strength, we demonstrate that the errors associated with the mollification may be removed via deconvolution. The zero of energy of the bias potential, which is easy to choose, influences the speed of convergence but not the limiting accuracy. This method is simple to apply to free energy or mean force computation in multiple dimensions and does not involve second derivatives of the reaction coordinates, matrix manipulations nor on-the-fly adaptation of parameters. For the alanine dipeptide test case, the new method is found to gain as much as a factor of 10 in efficiency as compared to two basic implementations of the adaptive biasing force methods, and it is shown to be as efficient as well-tempered metadynamics with the postprocess deconvolution giving a clear advantage to the mollified density of states method.

The spectrum of CO dimer was investigated by solving the rovibrational Schrödinger equation on a new potentialenergy surface constructed from coupled-cluster ab initio points. The Schrödinger equation was solved with a Lanczos algorithm. Several 4D (rigid monomer) global ab initio potentialenergy surfaces (PESs) were made using a previously reported interpolating moving least-squares (IMLS) fitting procedure specialized to describe the interaction of two linear fragments. The potential has two nonpolar minima giving rise to a complicated set of energy level stacks, which are very sensitive to the shapes and relative depths of the two wells. Although the CO dimer has defied previous attempts at an accurate purely ab initio description our best surface yields results in good agreement with experiment. Root-mean-square (rms) fitting errors of less than 0.1 cm(-1) were obtained for each of the fits using 2226 ab initio data at different levels. This allowed direct assessment of the quality of various levels of ab initio theory for prediction of spectra. Our tests indicate that standard CCSD(T) is slow to converge the interaction energy even when sextuple zeta bases as large as ACV6Z are used. The explicitly correlated CCSD(T)-F12b method was found to recover significantly more correlation energy (from singles and doubles) at the CBS limit. Correlation of the core-electrons was found to be important for this system. The best PES was obtained by extrapolation of calculations at the CCSD(T)(AE)-F12b/CVnZ-F12 (n = 3,4) levels. The calculatedenergy levels were compared to 105 J ≤ 10 levels from experiment. The rms error for 68 levels with J ≤ 6 is only 0.29 cm(-1). The calculatedenergy levels were assigned stack labels using several tools. New stacks were found. One of them, stack y1, has an energy lower than many previously known stacks and may be observable.

A liquid is composed of an ensemble of molecules that populate a large number of different states, so calculation of the solvation energy of a molecule in solution requires a method for summing the interactions with the environment over all of these states. The surface site interaction model for the properties of liquids at equilibrium (SSIMPLE) simplifies the surface of a molecule to a discrete number of specific interaction sites (SSIPs). The thermodynamic properties of these interaction sites can be characterised experimentally, for example, through measurement of association constants for the formation of simple complexes that feature a single H-bonding interaction. Correlation of experimentally determined solution phase H-bond parameters with gas phase ab initio calculations of maxima and minima on molecular electrostatic potential surfaces (MEPS) provides a method for converting gas phase calculations on isolated molecules to parameters that can be used to estimate solution phase interaction free energies. This approach has been generalised using a footprinting technique that converts an MEPS into a discrete set of SSIPs (each described by a polar interaction parameter, εi). These SSIPs represent the molecular recognition properties of the entire surface of the molecule. For example, water is described by four SSIPs, two H-bond donor sites and two H-bond acceptor sites. A liquid mixture is described as an ensemble of SSIPs that represent the components of the mixture at appropriate concentrations. Individual SSIPs are assumed to be independent, so speciation of SSIP contacts can be calculated based on properties of the individual SSIP interactions, which are given by the sum of a polar (εiεj) and a non-polar (E(vdW)) interaction term. Results are presented for calculation the free energies of transfer of a range of organic molecules from the pure liquid into water, from the pure liquid into n-hexadecane, from n-hexadecane into water, from n-octanol into

Strutinsky shell correction calculations were performed to describe the recent experimental results on collinear ternary fission. Collinear Cluster Tripartion fission events were studied experimentally in neutron induced fission of 235U, where the missing mass in the detected binary decay was suggested to characterize fission event as a collinear tripartition; and in spontaneous fission of 252Cf, where the direct detection of the three fission fragments has been used to confirm the existence of the Collinear Cluster Tripartition channel with a probability of 4.7×10-3 relative to the binary fission events.

The fields of rational drug design and protein engineering benefit from accurate free energycalculations based on molecular dynamics simulations. A thermodynamic integration scheme is often used to calculate changes in the free energy of a system by integrating the change of the system's Hamiltonian with respect to a coupling parameter. These methods exploit nonphysical pathways over thermodynamic cycles involving particle introduction and annihilation. Such alchemical transitions require the modification of the classical nonbonded potentialenergy terms by applying soft-core potential functions to avoid singularity points. In this work, we propose a novel formulation for a soft-core potential to be applied in nonequilibrium free energycalculations that alleviates singularities, numerical instabilities, and additional minima in the potentialenergy for all combinations of nonbonded interactions at all intermediate alchemical states. The method was validated by application to (a) the free energycalculations of a closed thermodynamic cycle, (b) the mutation influence on protein thermostability, (c) calculations of small ligand solvation free energies, and (d) the estimation of binding free energies of trypsin inhibitors. The results show that the novel soft-core function provides a robust and accurate general purpose solution to alchemical free energycalculations.

A six-dimensional interaction potential for the water dimer has been fitted to ab initio interaction energies computed at 2510 dimer configurations. These energies were obtained by combining the supermolecular second-order energies extrapolated to the complete basis set limit from up to quadruple-zeta quality basis sets with the contribution from the coupled-cluster method including single, double, and noniterative triple excitations computed in a triple-zeta quality basis set. All basis sets were augmented by diffuse functions and supplemented by midbond functions. The energies have been fitted using an analytic form with the induction component represented by a polarizable term, making the potential directly transferable to clusters and the bulk phase. Geometries and energies of stationary points on the potential surface agree well with the results of high-level ab initio geometry optimizations.

Complete active space MC SCF (CAS SCF) calculations followed by second-order configuration interaction (SOCI) calculations are carried out on the potentialenergy surfaces (bending surface, linear surfaces) of the 2Σ g+ ground state of He 3+. The potential minimum for the 2Σ g+ state occurs at a linear geometry with HeHe bond length of 1.248 Å. The binding energy of He 3+ with respect to He + He + + He was calculated to be 2.47 eV at the SOCI level. The energy required to dissociate He 3+ ( 2Σ g+) into He 2+ ( 2Σ u+) and He( 1S) is calculated to be 0.14 eV. The same level of SOCI calculations of He 2+ yield a De value of 2.36 eV.

The RKR method for determining accurate potentialenergy curves is described. Advantages of using the method (compared to Morse procedure) and a TRS-80 computer program which calculates the classical turning points by an RKR method are also described. The computer program is available from the author upon request. (Author/JN)

Theoretical computations have been carried out on 4-silaspiro(3,3)heptane (SSH) in order to calculate its molecular structure and conformational energies. The molecule has two puckered four-membered rings with dihedral angles of 34.2° and a tilt angle of 9.4° between the two rings. Energycalculations were carried out for different conformations of SSH. These results allowed the generation of a two-dimensional ring-puckering potentialenergy surface (PES) of the form V = a(x{sub 1}{sup 4} + x{sub 2}{sup 4}) – b(x{sub 1}{sup 2} + x{sub 2}{sup 2}) + cx{sub 1}{sup 2}x{sub 2}{sup 2}, where x{sub 1} and x{sub 2} are the ring-puckering coordinates for the two rings. The presence of sufficiently high potentialenergy barriers prevents the molecule from undergoing pseudorotation. The quantum states, wave functions, and predicted spectra resulting from the PESs were calculated.

We show here for a simple model system that the wavepacket dynamics in the interaction region can be described by a superposition of the non-Hermitian exponential divergent eigenfunctions of the physical Hamiltonian. We demonstrate how it is possible to obtain the complex eigenvalues and also the corresponding resonance eigenfunctions from the propagation of the wavepacket within the framework of the standard formalism of quantum mechanics. The general results demonstrated here for a simple model can lead to two different types of computational applications: (i) for systems where one can obtain the resonance energies and lifetimes as well as their corresponding eigenfunctions it is possible to study the evolution of the physical properties solely based on the initially populated resonance states without the need to propagate the wavepacket; (ii) for molecular systems where it is quite difficult to solve the non-Hermitian time-independent Schrödinger equation and obtain molecular resonance energies and functions. For this type of problem, the methods presented here enable one to evaluate the topology of complex potentialenergy surfaces from the wavepacket propagation and facilitate the study of the nuclear dynamics of ionizing molecular systems.

Six-dimensional intermolecular potentialenergy surfaces (PESs) for the interaction of CH4 with H2O are presented, obtained from ab initio calculations using symmetry-adapted perturbation theory (SAPT) at two different levels of intramonomer correlation and the supermolecular approach at three different levels of electron correlation. Both CH4 and H2O are assumed to be rigid molecules with interatomic distances and angles fixed at the average values in the ground-state vibration. A physically motivated analytical expression for each PES has been developed as a sum of site-site functions. The PES of the CH4-H2O dimer has only two symmetry-distinct minima. From the SAPT calculations, the global minimum has an energy of -1.03 kcal/mol at a geometry where H2O is the proton donor, HO-H...CH4, with the O-H-C angle of 165 degrees, while the secondary minimum, with an energy of -0.72 kcal/mol, has CH4 in the role of the proton donor (H3C-H...OH2). We estimated the complete basis set limit of the SAPT interaction energy at the global minimum to be -1.06 kcal/mol. The classical cross second virial coefficient B12(T) has been calculated for the temperature range 298-653 K. Our best results agree well with some experiments, allowing an evaluation of the quality of experimental results.

The present paper aims at deriving classical expressions which permit calculation of the equilibrium constant for weakly interacting molecular pairs using a complete multidimensional potentialenergy surface. The latter is often available nowadays as a result of the more and more sophisticated and accurate ab initio calculations. The water dimer formation is considered as an example. It is shown that even in case of a rather strongly bound dimer the suggested expression permits obtaining quite reliable estimate for the equilibrium constant. The reliability of our obtained water dimer equilibrium constant is briefly discussed by comparison with the available data based on experimental observations, quantum calculations, and the use of RRHO approximation, provided the latter is restricted to formation of true bound states only.

The present paper aims at deriving classical expressions which permit calculation of the equilibrium constant for weakly interacting molecular pairs using a complete multidimensional potentialenergy surface. The latter is often available nowadays as a result of the more and more sophisticated and accurate ab initio calculations. The water dimer formation is considered as an example. It is shown that even in case of a rather strongly bound dimer the suggested expression permits obtaining quite reliable estimate for the equilibrium constant. The reliability of our obtained water dimer equilibrium constant is briefly discussed by comparison with the available data based on experimental observations, quantum calculations, and the use of RRHO approximation, provided the latter is restricted to formation of true bound states only.

The electronic structure and spectroscopic properties (Re, ωexe, βe, Te ) of the ground state and the 22 lowest excited states of chlorine molecule were studied within a four component relativistic framework using the MOLFDIR program package. The potentialenergy curves of all possible 23 covalent states were calculated using relativistic complete open shell configuration interaction (COSCI) approach. In addition, four component multi-reference configuration interaction with singles and doubles excitations (MRCISD) calculations were performed in order to infer the effects due to dynamical correlation in vertical excitations. The calculated properties are in good agreement with the available experimental data.

A systematic vibrational spectroscopic assignment and analysis of pramipexole [(S)-N6-propyl-4,5,6,7-tetrahydro-1,3-benzothiazole-2,6-diamine] has been carried out using FT-IR and FT-Raman spectral data. The vibrational analysis was aided by an electronic structure calculation based on the hybrid density functional method B3LYP using a 6-311G(d, p) and cc-pVTZ basis sets. Molecular equilibrium geometries, electronic energies, IR and Raman intensities, harmonic vibrational frequencies have been computed. The assignments are based on the experimental IR and Raman spectra, and a complete assignment of the observed spectra has been proposed. The UV-visible spectrum of the compound was recorded and the electronic properties, such as HOMO and LUMO energies and the maximum absorption λmax were determined by time-dependent DFT (TD-DFT) method. The geometrical parameters, vibrational frequencies and absorption wavelengths were compared with the experimental data. The complete vibrational assignments are performed on the basis of the potentialenergy distributions (PEDs) of the vibrational modes in terms of natural internal coordinates. The simulated FT-IR, FT-Raman, and UV spectra of the title compound have been constructed. In addition, the potentialenergy surface, HOMO and LUMO energies, the molecular electrostatic potential and the first-order hyperpolarizability have been computed. The magnitude of the first-order hyperpolarizability is 5 times larger than that of urea and the title compound may be a potential applicant for the development of NLO materials.

The six-dimensional potentialenergy surface of the HCl dimer has been calculated ab initio at 1654 nuclear geometries [A. Karpfen, P. R. Bunker and P. Jensen, Chem. Phys., in press]. In the present paper we have fitted an analytical function to these points; the analytical function is similar to that used previously by us for the potential surface of the HF dimer. The fitted function has 38 adjustable parameters and the standard deviation of the weighted fit is 19.0 cm -1. We have determined the minimum energy path for the trans-bending tunneling motion on this surface, and have calculated the tunneling and K-rotation energies and wavefunctions. Around equilibrium the path is qualitatively similar to that for the HF dimer in that there are two equivalent hydrogen-bonded structures of Cs symmetry (which are approximately L-shaped with a "bound" and a "free" H-atom) that can tunnel through a C2 h saddle point (the "closed" C2 h saddle point). However, away from equilibrium the path is qualitatively different from that found for the HF dimer since the HCl dimer never becomes linear along the path; in fact it passes through a second C2 h saddle point (the "open" C2 h saddle point). As a result the A-rotational constant only varies slightly along the path, and this explains the experimental observation that the tunneling splitting varies little with K-type rotation for the HCl dimer, in contrast to the situation for the HF dimer. Quantitatively it is clear that errors in the ab initio calculation, errors in the fitting of an analytic function to the points, the correction to the path that is caused by the zero point motion in the other vibrations, and the coupling between the four low-frequency modes, will all be relatively more significant than they were for the HF dimer because the full six-dimensional potential is much flatter; the ab initio dissociation energy is only ˜600 cm -1, and the ab initio tunneling barrier is only ˜70 cm -1. Therefore, we modify the

Complete active space MCSCF (CASSCF) and second-order configuration interaction (SOCI) calculations of low-lying electronic states [2B2,2A1] of Au3 as well as the 1Σ+g state of Au2 are carried out. The bending potentialenergy surfaces of 2A1 and 2B2 states are also presented. A barrier is found in the potentialenergy surface of the 2A1 state in moving from the linear to bent structure. Two nearly-degenerate structures are found for the ground state. The 2Σ+u state arising from the linear structure with an Au-Au bond length of 2.66 Å is only 3.2 kcal/mol below the 2A1 bent state. The equilibrium geometry of the 2A1 state is an isosceles triangle with an apex angle of 54°. The Au3 cluster is found to be more stable than the gold dimer. The effect of d correlation is studied on Au2 by carrying out MRSDCI (multireference singles and doubles CI) calculations on the 1Σ+g state of Au2 which include excitations from the d orbitals.

The geometry dependence of excitation domains in local correlation methods can lead to noncontinuous potentialenergy surfaces. We propose a simple domain merging procedure which eliminates this problem in many situations. The method is applied to heterolytic bond dissociations of ketene and propadienone, to SN2 reactions of Cl- with alkylchlorides, and in a quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical study of the chorismate mutase enzyme. It is demonstrated that smooth potentials are obtained in all cases. Furthermore, basis set superposition error effects are reduced in local calculations, and it is found that this leads to better basis set convergence when computing barrier heights or weak interactions. When the electronic structure strongly changes between reactants or products and the transition state, the domain merging procedure leads to a balanced description of all structures and accurate barrier heights.

The geometry dependence of excitation domains in local correlation methods can lead to noncontinuous potentialenergy surfaces. We propose a simple domain merging procedure which eliminates this problem in many situations. The method is applied to heterolytic bond dissociations of ketene and propadienone, to SN2 reactions of Cl{sup -} with alkylchlorides, and in a quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical study of the chorismate mutase enzyme. It is demonstrated that smooth potentials are obtained in all cases. Furthermore, basis set superposition error effects are reduced in local calculations, and it is found that this leads to better basis set convergence when computing barrier heights or weak interactions. When the electronic structure strongly changes between reactants or products and the transition state, the domain merging procedure leads to a balanced description of all structures and accurate barrier heights.

"Balanced" basis sets, which describe the internuclear region as well as the nuclear region, are examined in the context of an ab initio selection-extrapolation configuration -interaction method (MRD-CI). The sets are balanced by adding bond functions (BF's), which are s, p and d-type orbitals at the bond mid-point, to atomic-centred molecular basis sets, which have double and triple sets of valence -shell orbitals (DZ and TZ) and one or two sets of polarization functions (PF's). Potentialenergy curves and spectroscopic constants were calculated for the ground states of the hydrides H _2, OH, NaH, MgH, MH, SiH, PH, SH, HCl, and for the ionized species OH^+ and OH^{++}, and for the A^3Sigma_{u}, w^3Delta_{u} and B^3Pi_{g} excited states of N_2. The basis sets containing bond functions gave curves and constants superior to the DZP and (where calculated) TZPP results, and of quality similar to large basis set calculations in the literature. The single and double ionization potentials of OH, and the term energies of the N_2 excited states had error at the atomic asymptotes for all basis sets. The dissociation energies of the ground states of ten first-row diatomics (C_2, N_2, O_2, F_2, CN, CO, CF, NO, NF, and FO) were studied using balanced basis sets. A correlation was found to exist between the actual bond order of a species, and the number and kinds of orbitals which comprise the optimum BF. For MRD-CI diatomic calculations, the following BF's should be added to a DZP basis set (sp) (for a bond order of 1); 2(sp) (B. O. 1.5); (spd) (B. O. 2); 3(sp) (B. O. 2.5); 2(spd) (B. O. 3). The prescribed BF basis method was tested on the 26 second-row congeners Si _2, P_2, S _2, Cl_2, SiP, SiS, SiCl, PS, PCl, and ClS, and mixed-row congeners SiN, SiO, SiF, PO, PF, SF, SiC, PN, SO, ClF, CP, CS, CCl, NS, NCl, and ClO. An average error of 6% and a maximum error of 10% relative to known experimental D_{e }'s was found: compared to an average error of 18% for TZPP calculations

An iterative technique that determines the reference atmosphere which incorporates the effects of uneven surface topography is presented. This method has been successfully applied in several available potentialenergy studies. An alternative method due to Taylor is also evaluated. While Taylor presented excellent continuous formulations of the available potentialenergy that include topography, his method for determining the reference atmosphere distributions failed to provide the accuracy needed to produce reliable available potentialenergy estimates. Since topography has a significant influence on the general circulation, it is important to employ techniques that incorporate its effects in the determination of available potentialenergy.

Korona, Williams, Bukowski, Jeziorski, and Szalewicz [J. Chem. Phys. 106, 1 (1997)] constructed a completely ab initio potential for He2 by fitting their calculations using infinite order symmetry adapted perturbation theory at intermediate range, existing Green's function Monte Carlo calculations at short range and accurate dispersion coefficients at long range to a modified Tang-Toennies potential form. The potential with retardation added to the dipole-dipole dispersion is found to predict accurately a large set of microscopic and macroscopic experimental data. The potential with a significantly larger well depth than other recent potentials is judged to be the most accurate characterization of the helium interaction yet proposed.

The covalent attachment of an aromatic amine to guanine C8 can produce a conformational change within the DNA molecule. This conformational change is likely to influence the altered DNA's biological capacity. The author used semi-empirical potentialenergycalculations to evaluate conformational patterns of DNA-aromatic amine adducts using the series: aniline, 4-aminobiphenyl, 2-aminofluorene and 1-aminopyrene. An exhaustive search was made of the conformational space for carcinogen modified two-base sequences. Information was incorporated into single stranded modified trimers. Modified strands were incorporated in duplex trimers. Nine-base modified duplexes were constructed and evaluated. This procedure produced distinctly different patterns for each aromatic amine investigated. It was apparent that the base sequence in which the carcinogen modification was found was crucial to the conformational change produced. At the dimer level, aniline allows both syn and anti guanine orientations at the carcinogen modification site. There were base-base and base-carcinogen stacked states, suggesting a flexible adduct easily able to assume many conformations. 4-Aminobiphenyl attachment resulted in low energy base-carcinogen stacked states, and a guanine torsion predominantly in a low syn orientation. The flexibility of this adduct was greatly reduced from that of the aniline adduct. 2-Aminofluorene adducts assumed more of a conformational mix. The major portion was base-base stacked with modified guanine anti, with a portion with base-carcinogen stacking and guanine syn or low syn. 1-Aminopyrene adducts were inflexible. The majority assumed a base-carcinogen stack with guanine syn. The conformational profiles of large modified pieces provided details of a unique low energy wedge conformation, in which aminofluorene, particularly, was able to fit into the minor groove with very little helix distortion.

A global many-body expansion potentialenergy surface is reported for the electronic ground state of CH2 (+) by fitting high level ab initio energiescalculated at the multireference configuration interaction level with the aug-cc-pV6Z basis set. The topographical features of the new global potentialenergy surface are examined in detail and found to be in good agreement with those calculated directly from the raw ab initio energies, as well as previous calculations available in the literature. In turn, in order to validate the potentialenergy surface, a test theoretical study of the reaction CH(+)(X(1)Σ(+))+H((2)S)→C(+)((2)P)+H2(X(1)Σg (+)) has been carried out with the method of time dependent wavepacket on the title potentialenergy surface. The total integral cross sections and the rate coefficients have been calculated; the results determined that the new potentialenergy surface can both be recommended for dynamics studies of any type and as building blocks for constructing the potentialenergy surfaces of larger C(+)/H containing systems.

An ab initio configuration interaction (CI) study including spin-orbit coupling is carried out for the ground and excited states of the IO radical by employing relativistic effective core potentials. The computed spectroscopic constants are in good agreement with available experimental data, with some tendency to underestimate the strength of bonding. The first excited state, a{sup 4}{Sigma}{sup {minus}}, which has not yet been observed experimentally, is predicted to be bound by 30.1 kJ/mol and to have a significantly larger equilibrium distance than the ground state. It is split by spin-orbit interaction into 1/2 and 3/2 components, with the 1/2 component being the lower one with a calculated spin-orbit splitting of 210 cm{sup {minus}1}. The most interesting state in the low-energy IO spectrum, A{sub 1}{sup 2}{Pi}{sub 3/2}, is shown to be predissociated due to interaction with a number of repulsive electronic states. Predissociation of the A{sup 1}, {nu}{prime} = 0, 1 vibrational levels is attributed to a fairly weak spin-orbit coupling with the {sup 2}{Delta}{sub 3/2} state, while rotationally dependent predissociation of the {nu}{prime} = 2 level is explained by the coupling with the 1/2(III) state having mainly {sup 2}{Sigma}{sup {minus}} character. Strong predissociation of the {nu}{prime} {ge} 4 levels is attributed to interaction with the higher-lying {Omega} = 3/2 states, with predominantly {sup 4}{Sigma}{sup +} and {sup 4}{Delta} origin.

A coherent state technique is used to generate an interacting boson model (IBM) Hamiltonian energy surface which is adjusted to match a mean-field energy surface. This technique allows the calculation of IBM Hamiltonian parameters, prediction of properties of low-lying collective states, as well as the generation of probability distributions of various shapes in the ground state of transitional nuclei, the last two of which are of astrophysical interest. The results for krypton, molybdenum, palladium, cadmium, gadolinium, dysprosium, and erbium nuclei are compared with experiment.

The method that we previously developed for going over from double volume integrals to double surface integrals in calculating the Coulomb energy of nuclei that have a sharp surface is generalized to the case of nuclei where the range of nuclear forces is finite and where the nuclear surface is diffuse. New formulas for calculating the Coulomb and the nuclear energy of deformed nuclei are obtained within this approach. For a spherically symmetric nucleus, in which case there is an analytic solution to the problem in question, the results are compared with those that are quoted in the literature, and it is shown that the respective results coincide identically. A differential formulation of the method developed previously by Krappe, Nix, and Sierk for going over from double volume integrals to double surface integrals is proposed here on the basis of the present approach.

Symmetry-adapted perturbation theory has been applied to compute the HeHF intermolecular potentialenergy surface for three internuclear distances in the HF subunit. The interaction energy is found to be dominated by the first-order exchange contribution and by the dispersion energy (including the intramonomer correlation effects). However, smaller corrections as the electrostatics, induction, and second-order exchange are found to be nonnegligible, and the final shape of the potential results from a delicate balance of attractive and repulsive contributions due to the four fundamental intermolecular interactions: electrostatics, exchange, induction, and dispersion. For a broad range of He-HF configurations the theoretical potential agrees very well with the empirical potential of Lovejoy and Nesbitt [C. M. Lovejoy and D. J. Nesbitt, J. Chem. Phys. 93, 5387 (1990)], which was adjusted to reproduce the near-infrared spectrum of the complex. Our potential has a global minimum of ɛm=-39.68 cm-1 for the linear He-HF geometry at Rm=6.16 bohr, and a secondary minimum of ɛm=-36.13 cm-1 for the linear He-FH geometry at Rm=5.59 bohr. These values are in very good agreement with the corresponding empirical results: ɛm=-39.20 cm-1 and Rm=6.17 bohr for the global minimum, and ɛm=-35.12 cm-1 and Rm=5.67 bohr for the secondary minimum.

To understand the reactivity and mechanism of the OH + NH3 → H2O + NH2 gas-phase reaction, which evolves through wells in the entrance and exit channels, a detailed dynamics study was carried out using quasi-classical trajectory calculations. The calculations were performed on an analytical potentialenergy surface (PES) recently developed by our group, PES-2012 [Monge-Palacios et al. J. Chem. Phys. 138, 084305 (2013)]. Most of the available energy appeared as H2O product vibrational energy (54%), reproducing the only experimental evidence, while only the 21% of this energy appeared as NH2 co-product vibrational energy. Both products appeared with cold and broad rotational distributions. The excitation function (constant collision energy in the range 1.0-14.0 kcal mol(-1)) increases smoothly with energy, contrasting with the only theoretical information (reduced-dimensional quantum scattering calculations based on a simplified PES), which presented a peak at low collision energies, related to quantized states. Analysis of the individual reactive trajectories showed that different mechanisms operate depending on the collision energy. Thus, while at high energies (E(coll) ≥ 6 kcal mol(-1)) all trajectories are direct, at low energies about 20%-30% of trajectories are indirect, i.e., with the mediation of a trapping complex, mainly in the product well. Finally, the effect of the zero-point energy constraint on the dynamics properties was analyzed.

Due to advances in quantum mechanical methods over the last few years, it is now possible to determine ab initio potentialenergy surfaces in which fundamental vibrational frequencies are accurate to within plus or minus 8 cm(exp -1) on average, and molecular bond distances are accurate to within plus or minus 0.001-0.003 Angstroms, depending on the nature of the bond. That is, the potentialenergy surfaces have not been scaled or empirically adjusted in any way, showing that theoretical methods have progressed to the point of being useful in analyzing spectra that are not from a tightly controlled laboratory environment, such as vibrational spectra from the interstellar medium. Some recent examples demonstrating this accuracy will be presented and discussed. These include the HNO, CH4, C2H4, and ClCN molecules. The HNO molecule is interesting due to the very large H-N anharmonicity, while ClCN has a very large Fermi resonance. The ab initio studies for the CH4 and C2H4 molecules present the first accurate full quartic force fields of any kind (i.e., whether theoretical or empirical) for a five-atom and six-atom system, respectively.

A method that combines quantum mechanics (QM), typically a solute, the effective fragment potential (EFP) discrete solvent model, and the polarizable continuum model is described. The EFP induced dipoles and polarizable continuum model (PCM) induced surface charges are determined in a self-consistent fashion. The gradients of these two energies with respect to molecular coordinate changes are derived and implemented. In general, the gradients can be formulated as simple electrostatic forces and torques among the QM nuclei, electrons, EFP static multipoles, induced dipoles, and PCM induced charges. Molecular geometry optimizations can be performed efficiently with these gradients. The formulas derived for EFP/PCM can be generally applied to other combined molecular mechanics and continuum methods that employ induced dipoles and charges.

Free energycalculations at finite temperature based on ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulations have become possible, but they are still highly computationally demanding. Besides, achieving simultaneously high accuracy of the calculated results and efficiency of the computational algorithm is still a challenge. In this work we describe an efficient algorithm to determine accurate free energies of solids in simulations using the recently proposed temperature-dependent effective potential method (TDEP). We provide a detailed analysis of numerical approximations employed in the TDEP algorithm. We show that for a model system considered in this work, hcp Fe, the obtained thermal equation of state at 2000 K is in excellent agreement with the results of standard calculations within the quasiharmonic approximation. PMID:27700093

Free energycalculations at finite temperature based on ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulations have become possible, but they are still highly computationally demanding. Besides, achieving simultaneously high accuracy of the calculated results and efficiency of the computational algorithm is still a challenge. In this work we describe an efficient algorithm to determine accurate free energies of solids in simulations using the recently proposed temperature-dependent effective potential method (TDEP). We provide a detailed analysis of numerical approximations employed in the TDEP algorithm. We show that for a model system considered in this work, hcp Fe, the obtained thermal equation of state at 2000 K is in excellent agreement with the results of standard calculations within the quasiharmonic approximation.

The spin-Hamiltonian valence bond theory relies upon covalent configurations formed by singly occupied orbitals differing by their spin counterparts. This theory has been proven to be successful in studying potentialenergy surfaces of the ground and lowest excited states in organic molecules when used as a part of the hybrid molecular mechanics - valence bond method. The method allows one to consider systems with large active spaces formed by n electrons in n orbitals and relies upon a specially proposed graphical unitary group approach. At the same time, the restriction of the equality of the numbers of electrons and orbitals in the active space is too severe: it excludes from the consideration a lot of interesting applications. We can mention here carbocations and systems with heteroatoms. Moreover, the structure of the method makes it difficult to study charge-transfer excited states because they are formed by ionic configurations. In the present work we tackle these problems by significant extension of the spin-Hamiltonian approach. We consider (i) more general active space formed by n ± m electrons in n orbitals and (ii) states with the charge transfer. The main problem addressed is the generation of Hamiltonian matrices for these general cases. We propose a scheme combining operators of electron exchange and hopping, generating all nonzero matrix elements step-by-step. This scheme provides a very efficient way to generate the Hamiltonians, thus extending the applicability of spin-Hamiltonian valence bond theory.

This study reports on the prospect for the routine use of Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) for the electronic structure problem, applying fixed-node Diffusion Monte Carlo (DMC) to generate highly accurate Born-Oppenheimer potentialenergy curves (PECs) for small molecular systems. The singlet ground electronic states of CO and N2 were used as test cases. The PECs obtained by DMC employing multiconfigurational trial wavefunctions were compared with those obtained by conventional high-accuracy electronic structure methods such as multireference configuration interaction and/or the best available empirical spectroscopic curves. The goal was to test whether a straightforward procedure using available QMC codes could be applied robustly and reliably. Results obtained with DMC codes were found to be in close agreement with the benchmark PECs, and the n3 scaling with the number of electrons (compared with n7 or worse for conventional high-accuracy quantum chemistry) could be advantageous depending on the system size. Due to a large pre-factor in the scaling, for the small systems tested here, it is currently still much more computationally intensive to compute PECs with QMC. Nevertheless, QMC algorithms are particularly well-suited to large-scale parallelization and are therefore likely to become more relevant for future massively parallel hardware architectures.

Some potentialenergy curves for CF2O were calculated using projected-unrestricted Hartree-Fock (PUHF) theory. The calculations employed a contracted (4s 3p) Gaussian-type atomic orbital basis set. Bound states were found for the X-tilde 1A1 and 1,3A2 states while the 1,3B1 and 1,3B2 states were repulsive in the valence representation. The merits of the PUHF treatment for excited states are discussed. The results are discussed in terms of available experimental information and previous calculations with particular emphasis on the question of the photolysis channels open in the solar spectral region.

Path integral molecular dynamics simulations for the H6+ and D6+ cluster cations have been carried out in order to understand the floppy nature of their molecular structure due to quantum-mechanical fluctuation. A full-dimensional analytical potentialenergy surface for the ground electronic state of H6+ has been developed on the basis of accurate ab initio electronic structure calculations at the CCSD(T)/cc-pVTZ level. It is found that the outer H 2(D 2) nuclei rotate almost freely and that the probability density distributions of the central H 2(D 2) nuclei show strong spatial delocalization.

Accurate modeling of high-temperature hypersonic flows in the atmosphere requires consideration of collision-induced dissociation of molecular species and energy transfer between the translational and internal modes of the gas molecules. Here, we describe a study of the N2 + N2⟶N2 + 2N and N2 + N2⟶4N nitrogen dissociation reactions using the quasiclassical trajectory (QCT) method. The simulations used a new potentialenergy surface for the N4 system; the surface is an improved version of one that was presented previously. In the QCT calculations, initial conditions were determined based on a two-temperature model that approximately separates the translational-rotational temperature from the vibrational temperature of the N2 diatoms. Five values from 8000 K to 30 000 K were considered for each of the two temperatures. Over 2.4 × 109 trajectories were calculated. We present results for ensemble-averaged dissociation rate constants as functions of the translational-rotational temperature T and the vibrational temperature Tv. The rate constant depends more strongly on T when Tv is low, and it depends more strongly on Tv when T is low. Quasibound reactant states contribute significantly to the rate constants, as do exchange processes at higher temperatures. We discuss two sets of runs in detail: an equilibrium test set in which T = Tv and a nonequilibrium test set in which Tv < T. In the equilibrium test set, high-v and moderately-low-j molecules contribute most significantly to the overall dissociation rate, and this state specificity becomes stronger as the temperature decreases. Dissociating trajectories tend to result in a major loss of vibrational energy and a minor loss of rotational energy. In the nonequilibrium test set, as Tv decreases while T is fixed, higher-j molecules contribute more significantly to the dissociation rate, dissociating trajectories tend to result in a greater rotational energy loss, and the dissociation probability's dependence on v

Accurate modeling of high-temperature hypersonic flows in the atmosphere requires consideration of collision-induced dissociation of molecular species and energy transfer between the translational and internal modes of the gas molecules. Here, we describe a study of the N2 + N2⟶N2 + 2N and N2 + N2⟶4N nitrogen dissociation reactions using the quasiclassical trajectory (QCT) method. The simulations used a new potentialenergy surface for the N4 system; the surface is an improved version of one that was presented previously. In the QCT calculations, initial conditions were determined based on a two-temperature model that approximately separates the translational-rotational temperature from the vibrational temperature of the N2 diatoms. Five values from 8000 K to 30,000 K were considered for each of the two temperatures. Over 2.4 × 10(9) trajectories were calculated. We present results for ensemble-averaged dissociation rate constants as functions of the translational-rotational temperature T and the vibrational temperature T(v). The rate constant depends more strongly on T when T(v) is low, and it depends more strongly on T(v) when T is low. Quasibound reactant states contribute significantly to the rate constants, as do exchange processes at higher temperatures. We discuss two sets of runs in detail: an equilibrium test set in which T = T(v) and a nonequilibrium test set in which T(v) < T. In the equilibrium test set, high-v and moderately-low-j molecules contribute most significantly to the overall dissociation rate, and this state specificity becomes stronger as the temperature decreases. Dissociating trajectories tend to result in a major loss of vibrational energy and a minor loss of rotational energy. In the nonequilibrium test set, as T(v) decreases while T is fixed, higher-j molecules contribute more significantly to the dissociation rate, dissociating trajectories tend to result in a greater rotational energy loss, and the dissociation probability

Antifreeze proteins (AFPs) are a unique class of proteins that inhibit ice growth without changing the melting point of ice. In this work, we study the detailed molecular mechanism of interactions between the hydrophobic side of the winter flounder (WF) AFP and two mutants, AAAA and SSSS, in which threonine residues are substituted by serines and alanines, respectively. Umbrella sampling molecular dynamics simulations of the separation of the proteins from the (2 0 1) surface in an explicit water box is carried out to calculate the potential of mean force free energies of adsorption using AMBER10i. We estimate wild-type WF's free energy of adsorption to ice to be about -12.0 kcal/mol. Gas-phase pseudopotential plane-wave calculations of methane adsorption onto select surfaces of ice are also carried out under periodic boundary conditions to address the possible enthalpic role of WF's methyl groups in binding. The contributions of hydrophobic residues to the free energy of adsorption are discussed.

A new, full (nine)-dimensional potentialenergy surface and dipole moment surface to describe the NO{sup +}(H{sub 2}O) cluster is reported. The PES is based on fitting of roughly 32 000 CCSD(T)-F12/aug-cc-pVTZ electronic energies. The surface is a linear least-squares fit using a permutationally invariant basis with Morse-type variables. The PES is used in a Diffusion Monte Carlo study of the zero-point energy and wavefunction of the NO{sup +}(H{sub 2}O) and NO{sup +}(D{sub 2}O) complexes. Using the calculated ZPE the dissociation energies of the clusters are reported. Vibrational configuration interaction calculations of NO{sup +}(H{sub 2}O) and NO{sup +}(D{sub 2}O) using the MULTIMODE program are performed. The fundamental, a number of overtone, and combination states of the clusters are reported. The IR spectrum of the NO{sup +}(H{sub 2}O) cluster is calculated using 4, 5, 7, and 8 modes VSCF/CI calculations. The anharmonic, coupled vibrational calculations, and IR spectrum show very good agreement with experiment. Mode coupling of the water “antisymmetric” stretching mode with the low-frequency intermolecular modes results in intensity borrowing.

Ab initio calculations including electron correlation effects (mainly on CEPA-PNO level) have been performed for the potentialenergy surface (PES) of the reaction of 2P carbon ions with molecular hydrogen. For the collinear abstraction reactions (C ∞v symmetry: 2σ +, 2Π-2) the minimum energy paths have been determined. The vertical insertion reaction (C 2v; 2A 1,B 1, 2B 2) has been investigated with particular emphasis (minimum energy path, barrier heights, intersystem crossing). The influence of the size of the orbital basis and of electron correlation has been studied in some detail. The interaction of the 2A 1, and 2B 2 surfaces has been analyzed, leading to the conclusion that close to C 2v symmetry a low energy path exists by which CH 2+( 2A 1)can be easily formed, with a barrier ( 2B 2 → 2A 1) ≈ 18 kcal/mol below the asymptote. The analysis of electron correlation effects reveals that it is compulsory to correlate the whole valence shell if one wants to obtain reliable surfaces. The influence of singly excited configurations for getting the correct behaviour of the PES is generally small.

We study dissociative photoionization of molecular oxygen in a kinematically complete XUV-IR pump-probe experiment. Detecting charged fragments and photoelectrons in coincidence using a reaction microscope, we observe a pump-probe delay-dependent yield of very low energetic O+ ions which oscillates with a period of 40 fs . This feature is caused by a time-dependent vibrational wave packet in the potential of the binding O2+(a Π4u) state, which is probed by resonant absorption of a single infrared photon to the weakly repulsive O2+(f Π4g) state. By quantitative comparison of the experimental kinetic-energy-release (KER) and quantum-beat (QB) spectra with the results of a coupled-channel simulation, we are able to discriminate between the calculated adiabatic O2+ potential-energy curves (PECs) of Marian et al. [Marian, Marian, Peyerimhoff, Hess, Buenker, and Seger, Mol. Phys. 46, 779 (1982), 10.1080/00268978200101591] and Magrakvelidze et al. [Magrakvelidze, Aikens, and Thumm, Phys. Rev. A 86, 023402 (2012), 10.1103/PhysRevA.86.023402]. In general, we find a good agreement between experimental and simulated KER and QB spectra. However, we could not reproduce all features of the experimental data with these PECs. In contrast, adjusting a Morse potential to the experimental data, most features of the experimental spectra are well reproduced by our simulation. By comparing this Morse potential to theoretically predicted PECs, we demonstrate the sensitivity of our experimental method to small changes in the shape of the binding potential.

We introduce a computational method developed for study of long-range molecular Rydberg states of such systems that can be approximated by two electrons in a model potential of the atomic cores. The method is based on a two-electron R-matrix approach inside a sphere centered on one of the atoms. The wave function is then connected to a Coulomb region outside the sphere via a multichannel version of the Coulomb Green's function. This approach is applied to a study of Rydberg states of Rb2 for internuclear separations R from 40 to 320 bohrs and energies corresponding to n from 7 to 30. We report bound states associated with the low-lying 3Po resonance and with the virtual state of the rubidium atom that turn into ion-pair-like bound states in the Coulomb potential of the atomic Rydberg core. The results are compared with previous calculations based on single-electron models employing a zero-range contact-potential and short-range modele potential. Czech Science Foundation (Project No. P208/14-15989P).

Theoretical computations of broadening parameters are reported for three microwave lines of H2O in a bath of He atoms. The potential-energy surfaces employed are corrected for basis-set superposition error, and their reliability is checked by repeating the calculations with a different basis set for orbital expansion. The results are presented in extensive tables and discussed in detail. The corrections applied are shown to have a significant impact on the accuracy of the room-temperature broadenings determined: 8.9 sq A for the 22.2-GHz line, 11.8 sq A for the 183,3-GHz line, and 10.0 sq A for the 380.2-GHz line, in good agreement with published experimental data. The importance of collisional broadening for the atmospheric transmission of radiation and for remote-sensing applications is indicated.

The gas-phase reaction between calcium monocation and fluoromethane: Ca(+)+CH(3)F-->CaF(+)+CH(3) was theoretically analyzed. The potentialenergy hypersurface was explored by using density functional theory methodology with different functionals and Pople's, Dunning's, Ahlrichs', and Stuttgart-Dresden basis sets. Kinetics calculations (energy and total angular momentum resolved microcanonical variational/conventional theory) were accomplished. The theoretically predicted range for the global kinetic rate constant values at 295 K (7.2x10(-11)-5.9x10(-10) cm(3) molecule(-1) s(-1)) agrees reasonably well with the experimental value at the same temperature [(2.6+/-0.8)x10(-10) cm(3) molecule(-1) s(-1)]. Explicit consideration of a two transition state model, where the formation of a weakly bounded prereactive complex is preceded by an outer transition state (entrance channel) and followed by an inner transition state connecting with a second intermediate that finally leads to products, is mandatory. Experimental observations on the correlation, or lack of correlation, between reaction rate constants and second ionization energies of the metal might well be rationalized in terms of this two transition state model.

The gas-phase reaction between calcium monocation and fluoromethane: Ca{sup +}+CH{sub 3}F{yields}CaF{sup +}+CH{sub 3} was theoretically analyzed. The potentialenergy hypersurface was explored by using density functional theory methodology with different functionals and Pople's, Dunning's, Ahlrichs', and Stuttgart-Dresden basis sets. Kinetics calculations (energy and total angular momentum resolved microcanonical variational/conventional theory) were accomplished. The theoretically predicted range for the global kinetic rate constant values at 295 K (7.2x10{sup -11}-5.9x10{sup -10} cm{sup 3} molecule{sup -1} s{sup -1}) agrees reasonably well with the experimental value at the same temperature [(2.6{+-}0.8)x10{sup -10} cm{sup 3} molecule{sup -1} s{sup -1}]. Explicit consideration of a two transition state model, where the formation of a weakly bounded prereactive complex is preceded by an outer transition state (entrance channel) and followed by an inner transition state connecting with a second intermediate that finally leads to products, is mandatory. Experimental observations on the correlation, or lack of correlation, between reaction rate constants and second ionization energies of the metal might well be rationalized in terms of this two transition state model.

We present a new set of potentialenergy surfaces (PESs) for the CH(X(2)Π)-He van der Waals system. Ab initio calculations of the CH-He PES were carried out using the open-shell single- and double-excitation coupled cluster approach with non-iterative perturbational treatment of triple excitations [RCCSD(T)]. The augmented correlation-consistent polarized valence quadruple-zeta (aug-cc-pVQZ) basis set was employed augmented by mid-bond functions. Integral cross sections for the rotational excitation in CH-He collisions were calculated using the new PES and compared with available experimental results. The newly constructed PES reproduces the available experimental results for CH(X(2)Π, v = 0)-He collisions better than any previously available PES. Differential cross sections (DCS) are presented for the first time for this system and discussed within the context of rotational rainbows. Finally, our work provides the first rate thermal coefficients for this system that are crucially needed for astrochemical modelling and future anticipated experiments in CH(X(2)Π)-He collisions.

A global many-body expansion potentialenergy surface is reported for the electronic ground state of CH{sub 2}{sup +} by fitting high level ab initio energiescalculated at the multireference configuration interaction level with the aug-cc-pV6Z basis set. The topographical features of the new global potentialenergy surface are examined in detail and found to be in good agreement with those calculated directly from the raw ab initio energies, as well as previous calculations available in the literature. In turn, in order to validate the potentialenergy surface, a test theoretical study of the reaction CH{sup +}(X{sup 1}Σ{sup +})+H({sup 2}S)→C{sup +}({sup 2}P)+H{sub 2}(X{sup 1}Σ{sub g}{sup +}) has been carried out with the method of time dependent wavepacket on the title potentialenergy surface. The total integral cross sections and the rate coefficients have been calculated; the results determined that the new potentialenergy surface can both be recommended for dynamics studies of any type and as building blocks for constructing the potentialenergy surfaces of larger C{sup +}/H containing systems.

This work compares Monte Carlo (MC) dose calculations for 125I and 103Pd low-dose rate (LDR) brachytherapy sources performed in virtual phantoms containing a series of human soft tissues of interest for brachytherapy. The geometries are segmented (tissue type and density assignment) based on simulated single energy computed tomography (SECT) and dual energy (DECT) images, as well as the all-water TG-43 approach. Accuracy is evaluated by comparison to a reference MC dose calculation performed in the same phantoms, where each voxel's material properties are assigned with exactly known values. The objective is to assess potential dose calculation accuracy gains from DECT. A CT imaging simulation package, ImaSim, is used to generate CT images of calibration and dose calculation phantoms at 80, 120, and 140 kVp. From the high and low energy images electron density ρe and atomic number Z are obtained using a DECT algorithm. Following a correction derived from scans of the calibration phantom, accuracy on Z and ρe of ±1% is obtained for all soft tissues with atomic number Z in [6,8] except lung. GEANT4 MC dose calculations based on DECT segmentation agreed with the reference within ±4% for 103Pd, the most sensitive source to tissue misassignments. SECT segmentation with three tissue bins as well as the TG-43 approach showed inferior accuracy with errors of up to 20%. Using seven tissue bins in our SECT segmentation brought errors within ±10% for 103Pd. In general 125I dose calculations showed higher accuracy than 103Pd. Simulated image noise was found to decrease DECT accuracy by 3-4%. Our findings suggest that DECT-based segmentation yields improved accuracy when compared to SECT segmentation with seven tissue bins in LDR brachytherapy dose calculation for the specific case of our non-anthropomorphic phantom. The validity of our conclusions for clinical geometry as well as the importance of image noise in the tissue segmentation procedure deserves further

This work compares Monte Carlo (MC) dose calculations for (125)I and (103)Pd low-dose rate (LDR) brachytherapy sources performed in virtual phantoms containing a series of human soft tissues of interest for brachytherapy. The geometries are segmented (tissue type and density assignment) based on simulated single energy computed tomography (SECT) and dual energy (DECT) images, as well as the all-water TG-43 approach. Accuracy is evaluated by comparison to a reference MC dose calculation performed in the same phantoms, where each voxel's material properties are assigned with exactly known values. The objective is to assess potential dose calculation accuracy gains from DECT. A CT imaging simulation package, ImaSim, is used to generate CT images of calibration and dose calculation phantoms at 80, 120, and 140 kVp. From the high and low energy images electron density ρ(e) and atomic number Z are obtained using a DECT algorithm. Following a correction derived from scans of the calibration phantom, accuracy on Z and ρ(e) of ±1% is obtained for all soft tissues with atomic number Z ∊ [6,8] except lung. GEANT4 MC dose calculations based on DECT segmentation agreed with the reference within ±4% for (103)Pd, the most sensitive source to tissue misassignments. SECT segmentation with three tissue bins as well as the TG-43 approach showed inferior accuracy with errors of up to 20%. Using seven tissue bins in our SECT segmentation brought errors within ±10% for (103)Pd. In general (125)I dose calculations showed higher accuracy than (103)Pd. Simulated image noise was found to decrease DECT accuracy by 3-4%. Our findings suggest that DECT-based segmentation yields improved accuracy when compared to SECT segmentation with seven tissue bins in LDR brachytherapy dose calculation for the specific case of our non-anthropomorphic phantom. The validity of our conclusions for clinical geometry as well as the importance of image noise in the tissue segmentation procedure deserves

The two most recently published potentialenergy surfaces (PESs) for the HeH2 complex, the so-called MR (Muchnick and Russek) and BMP (Boothroyd, Martin, and Peterson) surfaces, are quantitatively evaluated and compared through the investigation of atom-diatom collision processes. The BMP surface is expected to be an improvement, approaching chemical accuracy, over all conformations of the PES compared to that of the MR surface. We found significant differences in inelastic rovibrational cross sections computed on the two surfaces for processes dominated by large changes in target rotational angular momentum. In particular, the H2(ν=1,j=0) total quenching cross section computed using the BMP potential was found to be a factor of 1000 larger than that obtained with the MR surface. A lesser discrepancy persists over a large range of energies from the ultracold to thermal and occurs for other low-lying initial rovibrational levels. The MR surface was used in previous calculations of the H2(ν=1,j=0) quenching rate coefficient and gave results in close agreement with the experimental data of Audibert et al. which were obtained for temperatures between 50 and 300 K. Examination of the rovibronic coupling matrix elements, which are obtained following a Legendre expansion of the PES, suggests that the magnitude of the anisotropy of the BMP potential is too large in the interaction region. However, cross sections for elastic and pure rotational processes obtained from the two PESs differ typically by less than a factor of 2. The small differences may be ascribed to the long-range and anharmonic components of the PESs. Exceptions occur for (ν=10,j=0) and (ν=11,j=1) where significant enhancements have been found for the low-energy quenching and elastic cross sections due to zero-energy resonances in the BMP PES which are not present in the MR potential.

EU actions against climate change are rising energy prices, both have emphasized the use of renewable energy,increase investments and energy efficiency. A number of objectives formulated in the EC decree no. 29/2009 by 2020. This document is based on the share of renewable energies in energy consumption should be increased to 20% (EC, 2009). The EU average is 20% but the share of renewables vary from one member state to another. In Hungary in 2020, 14.65% renewable energy share is planned to be achieved. According to the latest Eurostat data, the share of renewable energy in energy consumption of the EU average was 14.1%, while in Hungary, this share was 9.6% in 2012. (EUROSTAT, 2014). The use of renewable energy plant level is influenced by several factors. The most important of these is the cost savings and efficiency gains. Hungarian investments in renewable energy production usually have high associated costs and the payback period is substantially more than five years, depending on the support rate. For example, the payback period is also influenced by the green electricity generated feed prices, which is one of the lowest in Hungary compared the Member States of the European Union. Consequently, it is important to increase the production of green energy. Nowadays, predictable biogas energy is an outstanding type of decentralized energy production. It follows directly that agricultural by-products can be used to produce energy and they also create jobs by the construction of a biogas plant. It is important to dispose of and destroy hazardous and noxious substances in energy production. It follows from this that the construction of biogas plants have a positive impact, in addition to green energy which is prepared to reduce the load on the environment. The production of biogas and green electricity is one of the most environment friendly forms of energy production. Biogas production also has other important ecological effects, such as the substitution of

Exchange-Coulomb model potentialenergy surfaces have been developed for the Ne-CO interaction. The initial model is a three-dimensional potentialenergy surface based upon computed Heitler-London interaction energies and literature results for the long-range induction and dispersion energies, all as functions of interspecies distance, the orientation of CO relative to the interspecies axis, and the bond length of the CO molecule. Both a rigid-rotor model potentialenergy surface, obtained by setting the CO bond length equal to its experimental spectroscopic equilibrium value, and a vibrationally averaged model potentialenergy surface, obtained by averaging the stretching dependence over the ground vibrational motion of the CO molecule, have been constructed from the full data set. Adjustable parameters in each model potentialenergy surface have been determined through fitting a selected subset of pure rotational transition frequencies calculated for the (20)Ne-(12)C(12)O isotopolog to precisely known experimental values. Both potentialenergy surfaces provide calculated results for a wide range of available experimental microwave, millimeter-wave, and midinfrared Ne-CO transition frequencies that are generally far superior to those obtained using the best current literature potentialenergy surfaces. The vibrationally averaged CO ground state potentialenergy surface, employed together with a potentialenergy surface obtained from it by replacing the ground vibrational state average of the CO stretching dependence of the potentialenergy surface by an average over the first excited CO vibrational state, has been found to be particularly useful for computing and/or interpreting mid-IR transition frequencies in the Ne-CO dimer.

Extensive ab initio calculations on the ground state potentialenergy surface of H2 + H2O were performed using a large contracted Gaussian basis set and a high level of correlation treatment. An analytical representation of the potentialenergy surface was then obtained which reproduces the calculatedenergies with an overall root-mean-square error of only 0.64 mEh. The analytic representation explicitly includes all nine internal degrees of freedom and is also well behaved as the H2 dissociates; it thus can be used to study collision-induced dissociation or recombination of H2. The strategy used to minimize the number of energycalculations is discussed, as well as other advantages of the present method for determining the analytical representation.

Quantum chemical calculations of the nuclear shielding tensor, the nuclear quadrupole coupling tensor, and the spin-rotation tensor are reported for the Xe dimer using ab initio quantum chemical methods. The binary chemical shift delta, the anisotropy of the shielding tensor Delta sigma, the nuclear quadrupole coupling tensor component along the internuclear axis chi( parallel ), and the spin-rotation constant C( perpendicular ) are presented as a function of internuclear distance. The basis set superposition error is approximately corrected for by using the counterpoise correction (CP) method. Electron correlation effects are systematically studied via the Hartree-Fock, complete active space self-consistent field, second-order Møller-Plesset many-body perturbation, and coupled-cluster singles and doubles (CCSD) theories, the last one without and with noniterative triples, at the nonrelativistic all-electron level. We also report a high-quality theoretical interatomic potential for the Xe dimer, gained using the relativistic effective potential/core polarization potential scheme. These calculations used valence basis set of cc-pVQZ quality supplemented with a set of midbond functions. The second virial coefficient of Xe nuclear shielding, which is probably the experimentally best-characterized intermolecular interaction effect in nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, is computed as a function of temperature, and compared to experiment and earlier theoretical results. The best results for the second virial coefficient, obtained using the CCSD(CP) binary chemical shift curve and either our best theoretical potential or the empirical potentials from the literature, are in good agreement with experiment. Zero-point vibrational corrections of delta, Delta sigma, chi (parallel), and C (perpendicular) in the nu=0, J=0 rovibrational ground state of the xenon dimer are also reported.

We report a full-dimensional, permutationally invariant potentialenergy surface (PES) for the cyclic formic acid dimer. This PES is a least-squares fit to 13475 CCSD(T)-F12a/haTZ (VTZ for H and aVTZ for C and O) energies. The energy-weighted, root-mean-square fitting error is 11 cm(-1) and the barrier for the double-proton transfer on the PES is 2848 cm(-1), in good agreement with the directly-calculated ab initio value of 2853 cm(-1). The zero-point vibrational energy of 15 337 ± 7 cm(-1) is obtained from diffusion Monte Carlo calculations. Energies of fundamentals of fifteen modes are calculated using the vibrational self-consistent field and virtual-state configuration interaction method. The ground-state tunneling splitting is computed using a reduced-dimensional Hamiltonian with relaxed potentials. The highest-level, four-mode coupled calculation gives a tunneling splitting of 0.037 cm(-1), which is roughly twice the experimental value. The tunneling splittings of (DCOOH)2 and (DCOOD)2 from one to three mode calculations are, as expected, smaller than that for (HCOOH)2 and consistent with experiment.

We report quasiclassical trajectory dynamical calculations for the C((3)P) + OH(X(2)Π) → CO(a(3)Π) + H((2)S) using a recently developed ab initio potentialenergy surface for the first electronic state of HCO of 1(2)A″ symmetry. The dependence of integral cross sections on the collision energy was determined. Product energy and angular distributions have also been calculated. Integral cross sections show no energy threshold and decrease as the collision energy increases. The comparison with results obtained from a statistical quantum method seems to confirm that the reaction is mainly dominated by an indirect mechanism in which a long-lived intermediate complex is involved.

We present converged exact quantum wave packet calculations of reaction probabilities, integral cross sections, and thermal rate coefficients for the title reaction. Calculations have been carried out on the ground 1(2)A' global adiabatic potentialenergy surface of Deskevich et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 124, 224303 (2006)]. Converged wave packet reaction probabilities at selected values of the total angular momentum up to a partial wave of J = 140 with the HCl reagent initially selected in the v = 0, j = 0-16 rovibrational states have been obtained for the collision energy range from threshold up to 0.8 eV. The present calculations confirm an important enhancement of reactivity with rotational excitation of the HCl molecule. First, accurate integral cross sections and rate constants have been calculated and compared with the available experimental data.

It has been recently shown that Titan provides a unique perspective in our solar system: its atmosphere is comparable to a model of prebiotic Earth's. Provided the organic cationic and anionic molecular species identified by the Cassini spacecraft, this research characterizes reaction pathways for the reactions of methyl derivatives of the cyclopropenyl cation, the methyl cation with methyl- and dimethyl-acetylene, and reactions of resonance structures of protonated acrylonitrile with CH2NH. Isomerization and dissociation reactions involving methyl-cyclopropenyl cations, the perinaphthenyl cation and anion, and cations of pyrimidine and purine precursors of nucleobases will be examined to locate reaction pathways, intermediates, transition states, and products of the reactions. Gaussian '09 software is used for ab initio calculations to map out the PES. Geometry optimizations and vibrational frequency computations are preformed via the double-hybrid density functional B2PLYP-D3. Single-point energies are refined by use of the explicitly-correlated coupled-cluster CCSD(T)-F12 method. Rate constants are calculated using microcanonical RRKM theory, and pressure effects evaluated used the Master Equation approach; these allow for prediction of absolute rate constants and product branching ratios at different pressures and temperatures.

An accurate single-sheeted double many-body expansion potentialenergy surface is reported for the title system. A switching function formalism has been used to warrant the correct behavior at the H2(X1Σg+)+N(2D) and NH (X3Σ-)+H(2S) dissociation channels involving nitrogen in the ground N(4S) and first excited N(2D) states. The topographical features of the novel global potentialenergy surface are examined in detail, and found to be in good agreement with those calculated directly from the raw ab initio energies, as well as previous calculations available in the literature. The novel surface can be using to treat well the Renner-Teller degeneracy of the 12A″ and 12A' states of NH 2. Such a work can both be recommended for dynamics studies of the N(2D)+H2 reaction and as building blocks for constructing the double many-body expansion potentialenergy surface of larger nitrogen/hydrogen-containing systems. In turn, a test theoretical study of the reaction N(2D)+H2(X1Σg+)(ν=0,j=0)→NH (X3Σ-)+H(2S) has been carried out with the method of quantum wave packet on the new potentialenergy surface. Reaction probabilities, integral cross sections, and differential cross sections have been calculated. Threshold exists because of the energy barrier (68.5 meV) along the minimum energy path. On the curve of reaction probability for total angular momentum J = 0, there are two sharp peaks just above threshold. The value of integral cross section increases quickly from zero to maximum with the increase of collision energy, and then stays stable with small oscillations. The differential cross section result shows that the reaction is a typical forward and backward scatter in agreement with experimental measurement result.

We report a global, full-dimensional, ab initio potentialenergy surface describing the HCl-H2O dimer. The potential is constructed from a permutationally invariant fit, using Morse-like variables, to over 44 000 CCSD(T)-F12b/aug-cc-pVTZ energies. The surface describes the complex and dissociated monomers with a total RMS fitting error of 24 cm-1. The normal modes of the minima, low-energy saddle point and separated monomers, the double minimum isomerization pathway and electronic dissociation energy are accurately described by the surface. Rigorous quantum mechanical diffusion Monte Carlo (DMC) calculations are performed to determine the zero-point energy and wavefunction of the complex and the separated fragments. The calculated zero-point energies together with a De value calculated from CCSD(T) with a complete basis set extrapolation gives a D0 value of 1348 ± 3 cm-1, in good agreement with the recent experimentally reported value of 1334 ± 10 cm-1 [B. E. Casterline, A. K. Mollner, L. C. Ch'ng, and H. Reisler, J. Phys. Chem. A 114, 9774 (2010), 10.1021/jp102532m]. Examination of the DMC wavefunction allows for confident characterization of the zero-point geometry to be dominant at the C2v double-well saddle point and not the Cs global minimum. Additional support for the delocalized zero-point geometry is given by numerical solutions to the 1D Schrödinger equation along the imaginary-frequency out-of-plane bending mode, where the zero-point energy is calculated to be 52 cm-1 above the isomerization barrier. The D0 of the fully deuterated isotopologue is calculated to be 1476 ± 3 cm-1, which we hope will stand as a benchmark for future experimental work.

We report a global, full-dimensional, ab initio potentialenergy surface describing the HCl-H2O dimer. The potential is constructed from a permutationally invariant fit, using Morse-like variables, to over 44,000 CCSD(T)-F12b∕aug-cc-pVTZ energies. The surface describes the complex and dissociated monomers with a total RMS fitting error of 24 cm(-1). The normal modes of the minima, low-energy saddle point and separated monomers, the double minimum isomerization pathway and electronic dissociation energy are accurately described by the surface. Rigorous quantum mechanical diffusion Monte Carlo (DMC) calculations are performed to determine the zero-point energy and wavefunction of the complex and the separated fragments. The calculated zero-point energies together with a De value calculated from CCSD(T) with a complete basis set extrapolation gives a D0 value of 1348 ± 3 cm(-1), in good agreement with the recent experimentally reported value of 1334 ± 10 cm(-1) [B. E. Casterline, A. K. Mollner, L. C. Ch'ng, and H. Reisler, J. Phys. Chem. A 114, 9774 (2010)]. Examination of the DMC wavefunction allows for confident characterization of the zero-point geometry to be dominant at the C(2v) double-well saddle point and not the C(s) global minimum. Additional support for the delocalized zero-point geometry is given by numerical solutions to the 1D Schrödinger equation along the imaginary-frequency out-of-plane bending mode, where the zero-point energy is calculated to be 52 cm(-1) above the isomerization barrier. The D0 of the fully deuterated isotopologue is calculated to be 1476 ± 3 cm(-1), which we hope will stand as a benchmark for future experimental work.

Vibrational energy levels of the ammonium cation (NH4+) and its deuterated isotopomers are calculated using a numerically exact kinetic energy operator on a recently developed nine-dimensional permutation invariant semiglobal potentialenergy surface fitted to a large number of high-level ab initio points. Like CH4, the vibrational levels of NH4+ and ND4+ exhibit a polyad structure, characterized by a collective quantum number P = 2(v1 + v3) + v2 + v4. As a result, the low-lying vibrational levels of all isotopomers are assigned and the agreement with available experimental data is better than 1 cm–1.

We present an extension of various free-energy methodologies to determine the chemical potential of the solid and liquid phases of a fully-flexible molecule using classical simulation. The methods are applied to the Smith-Bharadwaj atomistic potential representation of cyclotrimethylene trinitramine (RDX), a well-studied energetic material, to accurately determine the solid and liquid phase Gibbs free energies, and the melting point (Tm). We outline an efficient technique to find the absolute chemical potential and melting point of a fully-flexible molecule using one set of simulations to compute the solid absolute chemical potential and one set of simulations to compute the solid-liquid free energy difference. With this combination, only a handful of simulations are needed, whereby the absolute quantities of the chemical potentials are obtained, for use in other property calculations, such as the characterization of crystal polymorphs or the determination of the entropy. Using the LAMMPS molecular simulator, the Frenkel and Ladd and pseudo-supercritical path techniques are adapted to generate 3rd order fits of the solid and liquid chemical potentials. Results yield the thermodynamic melting point Tm = 488.75 K at 1.0 atm. We also validate these calculations and compare this melting point to one obtained from a typical superheated simulation technique.

Additional calculations which characterize potentialenergy sources (PESs) for the excited 3A-double-prime state, for a bound 2(2A-prime) state, for HN2(+), and for the Rydberg states associated with HN2(+). It is anticipated that these excited state PESs will be important in interpreting and designing experiments to characterize the ground state HN2 species via neutralized ion beam techniques.

A potentialenergy surface for the HCN/HNC system which is a fit to extensive, high-quality ab initio, coupled-cluster calculations is presented. All HCN and HNC states with energies below the energy of the first delocalized state are reported and characterized. Vibrational transition energies are compared with all available experimental data on HCN and HNC, including high CH-overtone states up to 23,063/cm. A simulation of the (A-tilde)-(X-tilde) stimulated emission pumping (SEP) spectrum is also reported, and the results are compared to experiment. Franck-Condon factors are reported for odd bending states of HCN, with one quantum of vibrational angular momentum, in order to compare with the recent assignment by Jonas et al. (1992), on the basis of axis-switching arguments of a number of previously unassigned states in the SEP spectrum.

An effective two-dimensional potentialenergy surface has been constructed for the SN2 reaction Cl-+CH3Br→ClCH3+Br- from coupled-cluster calculations with a large basis set. In the quantum dynamics calculations Radau coordinates were employed to describe the Cl-C and C-Br stretching modes. Making use of the filter diagonalization method and an optical potential, bound states as well as resonance states up to energies far above the dissociation threshold have been calculated. The resonance widths fluctuate over several orders of magnitude. In addition to a majority of Feshbach-type resonances there are also exceedingly long-lived shape resonances, which can only decay by tunneling. Owing to a smaller width of the potential barrier and a larger density of states, tunneling through the barrier is more important for Cl-+CH3Br than for Cl-+CH3Cl despite the larger total mass of this system. Excitation of the C-Br stretching vibration enhances the tunneling probability of the entrance channel complex.

Compounds with a medium-sized flexible ring often show atropisomerism that is caused by the high-energy barriers between long-lived conformers that can be isolated and often have different biological properties to each other. In this study, the frequency of the transition between the two stable conformers, aS and aR, of thienotriazolodiazepine compounds with flexible 7-membered rings was estimated computationally by Monte Carlo (MC) simulations and validated experimentally by NMR experiments. To estimate the energy barriers for transitions as precisely as possible, the potentialenergy (PE) surfaces used in the MC simulations were calculated by molecular orbital (MO) methods. To accomplish the MC simulations with the MO-based PE surfaces in a practical central processing unit (CPU) time, the MO-based PE of each conformer was pre-calculated and stored before the MC simulations, and then only referred to during the MC simulations. The activation energies for transitions calculated by the MC simulations agreed well with the experimental ΔG determined by the NMR experiments. The analysis of the transition trajectories of the MC simulations revealed that the transition occurred not only through the transition states, but also through many different transition paths. Our computational methods gave us quantitative estimates of atropisomerism of the thienotriazolodiazepine compounds in a practical period of time, and the method could be applicable for other slow-dynamics phenomena that cannot be investigated by other atomistic simulations.

One-dimensional potentialenergy curves for the isomerization of protonated Schiff base of retinal (PSBR) in bacteriorhodopsin (bR), i.e., isomerization from all-trans- to 13-cis-forms, have been calculated by means of time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) calculations, in order to elucidate the mechanism of initial step in photo-absorption. The transition state of the isomerization in the first excited state is located at theta(13-14)=58 degrees , where theta(13-14) means twist angle around the C(13)=C(14) double bond of PSBR The potential barrier is formed by the avoided crossing between S(1) (B(u)-like) and S(2) (A(g)-like) states. The mechanism of the isomerization was discussed on the basis of theoretical results.

To inform hypotheses regarding the relative importance of chemolithotrophic metabolisms in geothermal environments, we calculated free energy yields of 26 chemical reactions potentially supporting chemolithotrophy in two US Great Basin hot springs, taking into account the effects of changing reactant and product activities on the Gibbs free energy as each reaction progressed. Results ranged from 1.2 × 10(-5) to 3.6 J kg(-1) spring water, or 3.7 × 10(-5) to 11.5 J s(-1) based on measured flow rates, with aerobic oxidation of CH(4) or NH4 + giving the highest average yields. Energy yields calculated without constraining pH were similar to those at constant pH except for reactions where H(+) was consumed, which often had significantly lower yields when pH was unconstrained. In contrast to the commonly used normalization of reaction chemical affinities per mole of electrons transferred, reaction energy yields for a given oxidant varied by several orders of magnitude and were more sensitive to differences in the activities of products and reactants. The high energy yield of aerobic ammonia oxidation is consistent with previous observations of significant ammonia oxidation rates and abundant ammonia-oxidizing archaea in sediments of these springs. This approach offers an additional lens through which to view the thermodynamic landscape of geothermal springs.

We present a new three-dimensional potentialenergy surface (PES) for the NH(X{sup 3}Σ{sup −})–Ne van der Waals system, which explicitly takes into account the NH vibrational motion. Ab initio calculations of the NH–Ne PES were carried out using the open-shell single- and double-excitation coupled cluster approach with non-iterative perturbational treatment of triple excitations [RCCSD(T)]. The augmented correlation-consistent quadruple zeta (aug-cc-pVQZ) basis set was employed. Mid-bond functions were also included in order to improve the accuracy in the van der Waals well. Using this new PES, we have studied the collisional excitation of NH(X{sup 3}Σ{sup −}) by Ne. Close-coupling calculations of the collisional excitation cross sections of the fine-structure levels of NH by Ne are performed for energies up to 3000 cm{sup −1}, which yield, after thermal average, rate coefficients up to 350 K. The propensity rules between fine-structure levels are reported, and it is found that F-conserving cross sections are larger than F-changing cross sections even if the propensity rules are not as strong as for the NH–He system. The calculated rate coefficients are compared with available experimental measurements at room temperature and a fairly good agreement is found between experimental and theoretical data, confirming the good quality of the scattering calculations and also the accuracy of the potentialenergy surface used in this work.

We have carried out multireference configuration interaction calculations with a large basis set for the H[sub 2]Br system at 104 geometries preselected for convenient use in fitting an analytic potentialenergy surface for the reactions H + HBr [yields] H[sub 2]Br and H + H[prime]Br [yields] H[prime] + HBr. The external part of the correlation energy is scaled (SEC method) to yield a 101 geometry data set which is fitted using the extended London -Eyring-Polanyi-Sato method with bond-distance- and internal-angle-dependent Sato parameters plus a three-center term localized at the colinear H-Br-H saddle point. The unweighted root-mean-square error for 88 points corresponding to collinear and bent H-H-Br geometries and collinear H-Br-H geometries is 0.55 kcal/mol, with larger deviations for bent H-Br-H geometries. Rate constants were calculated by combining the new analytic potentialenergy surface with improved canonical variational transition state theory and the least-action semiclassical tunneling approximation. For the abstraction reaction, H + HBr [yields] H[sub 2] + Br, and four deuterium and muonium isotopic analogs, agreement with experiment is very good. 87 refs., 11 figs., 30 tabs.

Semi-empirical potentials are constructed that have eigenvalues close in magnitude to the binding energies of the valence electron in lithium. The potentials include the long range polarization force between the electron and the core. The corresponding eigenfunctions are used to calculate dynamic polarizabilities, discrete oscillator strengths, photoionization cross sections and radiative recombination coefficients. A consistent application of the theory imposes a modification on the transition operator, but its effects are small for lithium. The method presented can be regarded as a numerical generalization of the widely used Coulomb approximation.

Testosterone hydroxylation is a prototypical reaction of human cytochrome P450 3A4, which metabolizes about 50% of oral drugs on the market. Reaction dynamics calculations were carried out for the testosterone 6β-hydrogen abstraction and the 6β-d1-testosterone 6β-duterium abstraction employing a model that consists of the substrate and the active oxidant compound I. The calculations were performed at the level of canonical variational transition state theory with multidimensional tunneling and were based on a semiglobal full-dimensional potentialenergy surface generated by the multiconfiguration molecular mechanics technique. The tunneling coefficients were found to be around 3, indicating substantial contributions by quantum tunneling. However, the tunneling made only modest contributions to the kinetic isotope effects. The kinetic isotope effects were computed to be about 2 in the doublet spin state and about 5 in the quartet spin state.

As access to computational resources continues to increase, free-energycalculations have emerged as a powerful tool that can play a predictive role in drug design. Yet, in a number of instances, the reliability of these calculations can be improved significantly if a number of precepts, or good practices are followed. For the most part, the theory upon which these good practices rely has been known for many years, but often overlooked, or simply ignored. In other cases, the theoretical developments are too recent for their potential to be fully grasped and merged into popular platforms for the computation of free-energy differences. The current best practices for carrying out free-energycalculations will be reviewed demonstrating that, at little to no additional cost, free-energy estimates could be markedly improved and bounded by meaningful error estimates. In energy perturbation and nonequilibrium work methods, monitoring the probability distributions that underlie the transformation between the states of interest, performing the calculation bidirectionally, stratifying the reaction pathway and choosing the most appropriate paradigms and algorithms for transforming between states offer significant gains in both accuracy and precision. In thermodynamic integration and probability distribution (histogramming) methods, properly designed adaptive techniques yield nearly uniform sampling of the relevant degrees of freedom and, by doing so, could markedly improve efficiency and accuracy of free energycalculations without incurring any additional computational expense.

Where does gravitational potentialenergy reside when a ball is in the air? The perfectly correct answer is that it is located in the ball-Earth system. Still, mechanical energy conservation problems are routinely solved by assigning a potentialenergy to the ball alone. Provided here is a proof that such an assignment introduces only an entirely undetectable error.

Ab initio calculations including electron correlation effects (mainly on CEPA-PNO level) have been performed for the potentialenergy surface of the reaction of 3P oxygen atoms with molecular hydrogen. The collinear abstraction reaction (C ∞v symmetry) and the vertical insertion reaction (C 2v) have been investigated with particular emphasis.The influence of the orbital basis size and of electron correlation both on the reaction energy and on the barrier height and location for the abstraction reaction has been studied in some detail. Our extrapolated value for the barrier for this reaction is 13.4 ± 1.0 kcal/mol, in fair agreement with the experimental activation energy, while the insertion reaction has to pass over a barrier of =48 kcal/mol. The analysis of electron correlation effects reveals that it is compulsory to include all singly and doubly substituted configurations, to correct for unlinked cluster contributions and to use fairly large basis sets if one wants to get accurate ab initio potential surfaces for the reactions of triplet oxygen atoms.

We report the structure and spectroscopic characteristics for the Xe:HI van der Waals binary isomers determined from variational solutions of two-dimensional and three-dimensional (3D) vibrational Schrödinger equations. The solutions are based on a potentialenergy surface computed at the coupled-cluster level of theory including single and double excitations and a non-iterative perturbation treatment of triple excitations [CCSD(T)]. The dipole moment surface was calculated using quadratic configuration interaction (QCISD). The global potential minimum is shown to be located at the anti-hydrogen-bonded Xe-IH isomer, 21 cm(-1) below the secondary local minimum associated with the hydrogen-bonded Xe-HI isomeric form. The dissociation energy from the global minimum is 245.9 cm(-1). 3D Schrödinger equations are solved for the rotational quantum numbers J = k = 0, 1, and 2, without invoking an adiabatic separation of high- and low-frequency degrees of freedom. The vibrational ground state resides in the Xe-HI potential well, while the first excited state, 8.59 cm(-1) above the ground, occupies the Xe-IH well. We find that intra-complex dynamics exhibits a sudden transformation upon increase of the r(HI) bond length, accompanied by abrupt changes in the geometric and dipole parameters. A similar chaotic behavior is predicted to occur for Xe:DI at a shorter r(DI) bond length, which implies stronger coupling between low- and high-frequency motions in the heavier complex. Our calculations confirm a strong enhancement for the r(HI) stretch fundamental and a significant weakening for the first overtone vibrational transitions in Xe:HI, as compared to those in the free HI molecule. A qualitative explanation of this, earlier experimentally detected effect is suggested.

Time-independent quantum mechanical (QM) and quasiclassical trajectory (QCT) scattering calculations have been carried out for the C(1D) + H2 --> CH + H reaction at a collision energy of 80 meV on a newly developed ab initio potentialenergy surface [B. Bussery-Honvault et al., Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 7, 1476 (2005)] of 1 1A" symmetry, corresponding to the second singlet state 1 1B1 of CH2. A general good agreement has been found between the QM and QCT rotational distributions and differential cross sections (DCSs). In both cases, DCSs are strongly peaked in the forward direction with a small contribution in the backward direction in contrast with those obtained on the 1 1A' surface, which are nearly symmetric. Rotational distributions obtained on the 1 1A" surface are somewhat colder than those calculated on the 1 1A' surface. The specific dynamics and the contribution of the 1 1A" surface to the overall reactivity of this system are discussed.

Absorption by pairs of H2 molecules is an important opacity source in the atmospheres of the outer planets, and thus of special astronomical interest. The emission spectra of cool white dwarf stars differ significantly from the expected blackbody spectra, amongst other reasons due to absorption by H2-H2, H2-He, and H2-H collisional complexes in the stellar atmospheres. To model the radiative processes in these atmospheres, which have temperatures of several thousand kelvin, one needs accurate knowledge of the induced dipole (ID) and potentialenergy surfaces (PES) of such collisional complexes. These come from quantum-chemical calculations with the H2 bonds stretched or compressed far from equilibrium. Laboratory measurements of collision-induced (CI) absorption exist only at much lower temperature. For H2 pairs at room temperature, the calculated spectra of the rototranslational band, the fundamental band, and the first overtone match the experimental data very well. In addition, with the newly obtained IDS it became possible to reproduce the measurements in the far blue wing of the rototranslational spectrum of H2 at 77.5 K, as well as at 300 K. Similarly good agreement between theory and measurement is seen in the fundamental band of molecular deuterium at room temperature. Furthermore, we also show the calculated absorption spectra of H2-He at 600 K and of H2-H2 at 2,000 K, for which there are no experimental data for comparison.

We calculate the probabilities for the association reactions H+HCN→H2CN* and cis/trans-HCNH*, using quasiclassical trajectory (QCT) and classical trajectory (CT) calculations, on a new global ab initio potentialenergy surface (PES) for H2CN including the reaction channels. The surface is a linear least-squares fit of roughly 60 000 CCSD(T)-F12b/aug-cc-pVDZ electronic energies, using a permutationally invariant basis with Morse-type variables. The reaction probabilities are obtained at a variety of collision energies and impact parameters. Large differences in the threshold energies in the two types of dynamics calculations are traced to the absence of zero-point energy in the CT calculations. We argue that the QCT threshold energy is the realistic one. In addition, trajectories find a direct pathway to trans-HCNH, even though there is no obvious transition state (TS) for this pathway. Instead the saddle point (SP) for the addition to cis-HCNH is evidently also the TS for direct formation of trans-HCNH.

We discuss and compare different approaches to calculating the dynamics of anisotropic flow structure formation in quasi two-dimensional turbulence based on potential vorticity (PV) transport in real space. The general structure of the PV flux in the relaxation processes is deduced non-perturbatively. The transport coefficients of the PV flux are then systematically calculated using perturbation theory. We develop two non-perturbative relaxation models: the first is a mean field theory for the dynamics of minimum enstrophy relaxation based on the requirement that the mean flux of PV dissipates total potential enstrophy but conserves total fluid kinetic energy. The results show that the structure of PV flux has the form of a sum of a positive definite hyper-viscous and a negative or positive viscous flux of PV. Turbulence spreading is shown to be related to PV mixing via the link of turbulence energy flux to PV flux. In the relaxed state, the ratio of the PV gradient to zonal flow velocity is homogenized. This homogenized quantity sets a constraint on the amplitudes of PV and zonal flow in the relaxed state. The second relaxation model is derived from symmetry principles alone. The form of PV flux contains a nonlinear convective term in addition to viscous and hyper-viscous terms. For both cases, the transport coefficients are calculated using perturbation theory. For a broad turbulence spectrum, a modulational calculation of the PV flux gives both a negative viscosity and a positive hyper-viscosity. For a narrow turbulence spectrum, the result of a parametric instability analysis shows that PV transport is also convective. In both relaxation and perturbative analyses, it is shown that turbulent PV transport is sensitive to flow structure, and the transport coefficients are nonlinear functions of flow shear.

The potentialenergy surfaces of the van der Waals complexes benzene-Ar and p-difluorobenzene-Ar have been investigated at the second-order Møller-Plesset (MP2) level of theory with the aug-cc-pVDZ basis set. Calculations were performed with unconstrained geometry optimization for all stationary points. This study has been performed to elucidate the nature of a conflict between experimental results from dispersed fluorescence and velocity map imaging (VMI). The inconsistency is that spectra for levels of p-difluorobenzene-Ar and -Kr below the dissociation thresholds determined by VMI show bands where free p-difluorobenzene emits, suggesting that dissociation is occurring. We proposed that the bands observed in the dispersed fluorescence spectra are due to emission from states in which the rare gas atom orbits the aromatic chromophore; these states are populated by intramolecular vibrational redistribution from the initially excited level [S. M. Bellm, R. J. Moulds, and W. D. Lawrance, J. Chem. Phys. 115, 10709 (2001)]. To test this proposition, stationary points have been located on both the benzene-Ar and p-difluorobenzene-Ar potentialenergy surfaces (PESs) to determine the barriers to this orbiting motion. Comparison with previous single point CCSD(T) calculations of the benzene-Ar PES has been used to determine the amount by which the barriers are overestimated at the MP2 level. As there is little difference in the comparable regions of the benzene-Ar and p-difluorobenzene-Ar PESs, the overestimation is expected to be similar for p-difluorobenzene-Ar. Allowing for this overestimation gives the barrier to movement of the Ar atom around the pDFB ring via the valley between the H atoms as < or = 204 cm(-1) in S0 (including zero point energy). From the estimated change upon electronic excitation, the corresponding barrier in S1 is estimated to be < or = 225 cm(-1). This barrier is less than the 240 cm(-1) energy of 30(2), the vibrational level for which the

The potentialenergy curves (PECs) of 28 Ω states generated from 9 Λ-S states (X2Π, 14Π, 16Π, 12Σ+, 14Σ+, 16Σ+, 14Σ-, 24Π and 14Δ) are studied for the first time using an ab initio quantum chemical method. All the 9 Λ-S states correlate to the first two dissociation limits, N(4Su) + Se(3Pg) and N(4Su) + Se(3Dg), of NSe radical. Of these Λ-S states, the 16Σ+, 14Σ+, 16Π, 24Π and 14Δ are found to be rather weakly bound states. The 12Σ+ is found to be unstable and has double wells. And the 16Σ+, 14Σ+, 14Π and 16Π are found to be the inverted ones with the SO coupling included. The PEC calculations are made by the complete active space self-consistent field method, which is followed by the internally contracted multireference configuration interaction approach with the Davidson modification. The spin-orbit coupling is accounted for by the state interaction approach with the Breit-Pauli Hamiltonian. The convergence of the present calculations is discussed with respect to the basis set and the level of theory. Core-valence correlation corrections are included with a cc-pCVTZ basis set. Scalar relativistic corrections are calculated by the third-order Douglas-Kroll Hamiltonian approximation at the level of a cc-pV5Z basis set. All the PECs are extrapolated to the complete basis set limit. The variation with internuclear separation of spin-orbit coupling constants is discussed in brief for some Λ-S states with one shallow well on each PEC. The spectroscopic parameters of 9 Λ-S and 28 Ω states are determined by fitting the first ten vibrational levels whenever available, which are calculated by solving the rovibrational Schrödinger equation with Numerov's method. The splitting energy in the X2Π Λ-S state is determined to be about 864.92 cm-1, which agrees favorably with the measurements of 891.80 cm-1. Moreover, other spectroscopic parameters of Λ-S and Ω states involved here are also in fair agreement with available measurements. It

The potentialenergy curves (PECs) of X1Σ+, a3Π, 13Σ+, 13Δ, 11Δ, 11Σ-, 13Σ-, 11Π, 21Σ+, 23Π, 21Π and 23Σ+ Λ-S states of CBr+ cation and corresponding 23 Ω states are calculated for the first time using the CASSCF method, which is followed by the internally contracted MRCI approach with the aug-cc-pVQZ basis set. All the Λ-S states involved are found to be bound and dissociate into the first dissociation limit of CBr+ cation. Of these Λ-S states, only the 13Σ+ and 13Σ- are inverted ones. The spin-orbit (SO) coupling is accounted for by the state interaction approach with the Breit-Pauli Hamiltonian. Core-valence correlation is included by a cc-pCVTZ basis set. Relativistic correction is calculated with the third-order Douglas-Kroll Hamiltonian approximation at the level of cc-pVQZ basis set. To obtain more reliable results, the PECs obtained by the MRCI calculations are corrected for size-extensivity errors by means of the Davidson modification. The PEC crossings of different Λ-S states are studied. With these PECs, the spectroscopic parameters of all the Λ-S and Ω states involved are obtained by fitting the first ten vibrational levels whenever available, which are calculated by solving the rovibrational Schrödinger equation using the Numerov's method. The spectroscopic parameters are compared with those reported in the literature. Excellent agreement is found between the present results and available measurements. In particular, the energy separation of 352.26 cm-1 between the a3Π0+ and the a3Π1 Ω states agrees well with the measurements of 369±8 cm-1, and the ωe results of 907.45 and 907.08 cm-1 for the a3Π0+ and a3Π1 Ω states are in excellent agreement with the measurements of 906±2 and 903±6 cm-1, respectively. These show that the spectroscopic parameters obtained in the present paper can be expected to be reliable predicted ones.

In the present work, the wavelength-dependent mechanistic photochemistry of glyoxal in the gas phase has been explored by ab initio calculations of potential-energy surfaces, surface crossing points, and adiabatic and nonadiabatic rates. The CHOCHO molecules in S1 by photoexcitation at 393-440 nm mainly decay to the ground state via internal conversion, which is followed by molecular eliminations to form CO, H2CO,H2, and HCOH. Upon photodissociation of CHOCHO at 350-390 nm, intersystem crossing to T1 followed by the C-C bond cleavage is the dominant process in this wavelength range, which is responsible for the formation of the CHO radicals. The C-C and C-H bond cleavages along the S1 pathway are energetically accessible upon photodissociation of CHOCHO at 290-310 nm, which can compete with the S1-->T1 intersystem crossing process. The present study predicts that the C-H bond cleavage on the S1 surface is probably a new photolysis pathway at high excitation energy, which has not been observed experimentally. In addition, the trans-cis isomerization is predicted to occur more easily in the ground state than in the excited states.

Diffusion Monte Carlo (DMC) and path-integral Monte Carlo computations of the vibrational ground state and 10 K equilibrium state properties of the H7 (+)/D7 (+) cations are presented, using an ab initio full-dimensional potentialenergy surface. The DMC zero-point energies of dissociated fragments H5 (+)(D5 (+))+H2(D2) are also calculated and from these results and the electronic dissociation energy, dissociation energies, D0, of 752 ± 15 and 980 ± 14 cm(-1) are reported for H7 (+) and D7 (+), respectively. Due to the known error in the electronic dissociation energy of the potential surface, these quantities are underestimated by roughly 65 cm(-1). These values are rigorously determined for first time, and compared with previous theoretical estimates from electronic structure calculations using standard harmonic analysis, and available experimental measurements. Probability density distributions are also computed for the ground vibrational and 10 K state of H7 (+) and D7 (+). These are qualitatively described as a central H3 (+)/D3 (+) core surrounded by "solvent" H2/D2 molecules that nearly freely rotate.

Introduces different methodological strategies in analyzing potentialenergy surfaces (PES) used in chemical reactivity studies. Discusses the theory of PES and gives examples to be used for student work. Provides procedures for calculating normal coordinates and vibrational properties of an activated complex. (ML)

Claisen rearrangement ethers are a fundamental organic, pericyclic rearrangement reaction reagent. In the mechanism of a Claisen rearrangement, a vinyl allyl ether is needed to provide the necessary Lewis acid/base sites on the molecule for the rearrangement and are simply heated. This rearrangement was first discovered by heating up the title molecule, allyl phenyl ether. However, much like the Diels-Alder, Cope, and other pericyclic reactions, conformation and coordination of chemical groups is key to the Claisen mechanism. In this study, the authors present some structural characteristics of allyl phenyl ether from an analysis of the microwave spectra in the 8-14 GHz region using a CP-FTMW spectrometer. This is, to the authors knowledge, the first known microwave region study of the title molecule. Three conformers have been observed and assigned to date and will be discussed. Along with the rotational spectra, geometry calculations and potentialenergy surfaces performed at the MP2/6-311G++(3d,2p) level will be discussed and compared to the experimental results. Modeling the Claisen aromatic rearrangement mechanism using CP-FTMW spectroscopy will also be discussed. L. Claisen Chemische Berichte 45, 3157, October 1912.

There have been a number of recent experimental investigations of the nonadiabatic relaxation dynamics of aniline following excitation to the first three singlet excited states, 1(1)ππ*, 1(1)π3s/πσ* and 2(1)ππ*. Motivated by differences between the interpretations of experimental observations, we have employed CASSCF and XMCQDPT2 calculations to explore the potentialenergy landscape and relaxation pathways of photoexcited aniline. We find a new prefulvene-like MECI connecting the 1(1)ππ* state with the GS in which the carbon-atom carrying the amino group is distorted out-of-plane. This suggests that excitation above the 1(1)π3s/πσ* vertical excitation energy could be followed by electronic relaxation from the 1(1)ππ* state to the ground-electronic state through this MECI. We find a MECI connecting the 1(1)π3s/πσ* and 1(1)ππ* states close to the local minimum on 1(1)π3s/πσ* which suggests that photoexcitation to the 1(1)π3s/πσ* state could be followed by relaxation to the 1(1)ππ* state and to the dissociative component of the 1(1)π3s/πσ* state. We also find evidence for a new pathway from the 2(1)ππ* state to the ground electronic state that is likely to pass through a three-state conical intersection involving the 2(1)ππ*, 1(1)π3s/πσ* and 1(1)ππ* states.

Electrophysiological studies have established that the permeation of Ba(2+) ions through the KcsA K(+)-channel is impeded by the presence of K(+) ions in the external solution, while no effect is observed for external Na(+) ions. This Ba(2+) "lock-in" effect suggests that at least one of the external binding sites of the KcsA channel is thermodynamically selective for K(+). We used molecular dynamics simulations to interpret these lock-in experiments in the context of the crystallographic structure of KcsA. Assuming that the Ba(2+) is bound in site S(2) in the dominant blocked state, we examine the conditions that could impede its translocation and cause the observed "lock-in" effect. Although the binding of a K(+) ion to site S(1) when site S(2) is occupied by Ba(2+) is prohibitively high in energy (>10 kcal/mol), binding to site S0 appears to be more plausible (ΔG > 4 kcal/mol). The 2D potential of mean force (PMF) for the simultaneous translocation of Ba(2+) from site S(2) to site S(1) and of a K(+) ion on the extracellular side shows a barrier that is consistent with the concept of external lock-in. The barrier opposing the movement of Ba(2+) is very high when a cation is in site S(0), and considerably smaller when the site is unoccupied. Furthermore, free energy perturbation calculations show that site S(0) is selective for K(+) by 1.8 kcal/mol when S(2) is occupied by Ba(2+). However, the same site S(0) is nonselective when site S(2) is occupied by K(+), which shows that the presence of Ba(2+) affects the selectivity of the pore. A theoretical framework within classical rate theory is presented to incorporate the concentration dependence of the external ions on the lock-in effect.

Calculations of intermolecular potentials following the density functional theory (DFT) turn out to be very complicated without using some appropriate approximations. Most often the following three approximations have been considered. In one approximation the disturbed charge distributions during collisions are reduced to sums of undisturbed charge distributions from the colliding species. In another approximation, the so-called local density approximation (LDA), one neglects the fact that the intermolecular potentials that depend on charge densities also depend on gradients in the densities. In a third approximation one assumes that the intermolecular potential can be considered as a sum of two terms: a term for the long-range geometry and a term for the short-range geometry. In this Article the three approximations mentioned will be discussed for numerical accuracy for calculations of potentials between inert gas atoms and for calculations of potentials between surfaces and inert gas atoms. In the discussion a few other approximations will be mentioned too.

The new class of substitution reactions with oxygen molecule as an agent has been studied by combination of quantum chemistry calculation and transition state theory (TST). The 'inversion substitution' processes RH + O 2 → RO 2 + H (R=CH 3 and SiH 3) have been investigated. The energy for the stationary points (reagents, products and transition states) on the reaction coordinate has been calculated by G2M(CC,MP2) method and rate constants have been calculated within TST approach. The results show that in methane case the reaction considered (CH 4 + O 2 → CH 3O 2 + H) does not compete with generally accepted mechanism (CH 4 + O 2 → CH 3 + HO 2), but it does at elevated temperature in silane case.

We report variational calculations of rovibrational energies of CH 4 using the code MULTIMODE and an ab initio force field of Schwenke and Partridge. The systematic convergence of the energies with respect to the level of mode coupling is presented. Converged vibrational energiescalculated using the five-mode representation of the potential for zero total angular momentum are compared with previous, benchmark calculations based on Radau coordinates using this force field for zero total angular momentum and for J = 1. Very good agreement with the previous benchmark calculations is found.

The code MULTIMODE is used in its reaction path version, along with ab initio potentialenergy and dipole moment surfaces introduced earlier, to predict the infrared spectra of both trans and cis forms of HOCO at temperatures 296 and 15 K. All six fundamentals are isolated for each isomer and temperature, and their main features examined, paying particular attention to the OH stretch fundamental, whose spectrum has been reported experimentally for trans-HOCO. The current spectra for cis-HOCO, while not of "spectroscopic" accuracy, should be sufficient to aid in new experimental efforts to record the spectrum of this isomer.

As the implementation of the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act, and Title V in particular, continues, questions regarding the calculation of a facility`s potential to emit continue to surface. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has provided limited guidance decisions, although many are still being made during Title V implementation. This paper discusses what is meant by PM-10 and the validity of using sieve analysis in estimating particulate emissions. Title V of the Clean Air Amendments of 1990, and the accompanying regulations in 40 CFR Part 70, defines a major source subject to Title V by calculating its potential emissions of all regulated pollutants, both criteria and hazardous air pollutants. For PM, the threshold emission rate is 100 tons per year (tpy) for applicability to Title V. Much discussion has ensued regarding a definition of PM for the purpose of determining a facility`s potential to emit. Recently, EPA provided guidance which indicated that only PM-10 should be considered for making this determination although many states regulate larger particles through their state implementation plan (SIP) as a surrogate for PM-10.

The ground-state energies and HF vibrational frequency shifts of ArnHF clusters have been calculated on the nonadditive potential-energy surfaces (PESs) for n =2-7 and on the pairwise-additive PESs for the clusters with n =1-12, using the diffusion Monte Carlo (DMC) method. For n >3, the calculations have been performed for the lowest-energy isomer and several higher-lying isomers which are the closest in energy. They provide information about the isomer dependence of the HF redshift, and enable direct comparison with the experimental data recently obtained in helium nanodroplets. The agreement between theory and experiment is excellent, in particular, for the nonadditive DMC redshifts. The relative, incremental redshifts are reproduced accurately even at the lower level of theory, i.e., the DMC and quantum five-dimensional (rigid Arn) calculations on the pairwise-additive PESs. The nonadditive interactions make a significant contribution to the frequency shift, on the order of 10%-12%, and have to be included in the PESs in order for the theory to yield accurate magnitude of the HF redshift. The energy gaps between the DMC ground states of the cluster isomers are very different from the energy separation of their respective minima on the PES, due to the considerable variations in the intermolecular zero-point energy of different ArnHF isomers.

The present article deals with one of the alternative forms of energy - sea wave energypotential in the Latvian Exclusice Economic Zone (EEZ). Results have been achieved using a new method - VEVPP. Calculations have been performed using the data on wave parameters over the past five years (2010-2014). We have also considered wave energypotential in the Gulf of Riga. The conclusions have been drawn on the recommended methodology for the sea wave potential and power calculations for wave-power plant pre-design stage.

Based on the weakest bound electron potential model theory, the Rydberg energy levels and quantum defects of the np2Po1/2 (n = 7-50) and np2Po3/2 (n = 7-50) spectrum series for the francium atom are calculated. The calculated results are in excellent agreement with the 48 measured levels, and 40 energy levels for highly excited states are predicted.

An effective computational scheme to construct the adiabatic potentialenergy surfaces (APES) along the reaction coordinates for an electron transfer reaction occurring by two steps at a metal electrode is considered in the framework of the Anderson-Newns model. Two Theorems have been proved which predict the existence of all possible solutions of the Anderson-Newns equations at arbitrary values of the key parameters and point out the region for each solution. Asymptotic formulas for solutions near multiple roots have been derived and combined in an effective way with numerical routines. The analysis of some important properties of the APES, which can be of interest for modelling the electrochemical electron transfer processes, is presented as well. The APES describing the reduction of Zn(II) and In(III) aqua-complexes at a mercury electrode have been built and discussed.

The so-called H-type mesh is used in a finite-element (or finite-volume) calculation of the potential flow past an airfoil. Due to coordinate singularity at the leading edge, a special singular trial function is used for the elements neighboring the leading edge. The results using the special singular elements are compared to those using the regular elements. It is found that the unreasonable pressure distribution obtained by the latter is removed by the embedding of the singular element. Suggestions to extend the present method to transonic cases are given.

Calculation of energy and mass balance within an incinerator is a very important part of designing and/or evaluating the incineration process. This article describes a simple computer model used to calculate an energy and mass balance for a rotary kiln incinerator. The main purpose of the model is to assist US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) permit writers in evaluating the adequacy of the data submitted by applicants seeking incinerator permits. The calculation is based on the assumption that a thermodynamic equilibrium condition exits within the combustion chamber. Key parameters that the model can calculate include theoretical combustion air, excess air needed for actual combustion cases, flue gas flow rate, and exit temperature.

Protonolysis by platinum or palladium complexes has been extensively studied because it is the microscopic reverse of the C-H bond activation reaction. The protonolysis of (COD)Pt(II)Me2, which exhibits abnormally large kinetic isotope effects (KIEs), is proposed to occur via a concerted pathway (SE2 mechanism) with large tunneling. However, further investigation of KIEs for the protonolysis of ZnMe2 and others led to a conclusion that there is no noticeable correlation between the mechanism and magnitude of KIE. In this study, we demonstrated that variational transition state theory including multidimensional tunneling (VTST/MT) could accurately predict KIEs and Arrhenius parameters of the protonolysis of alkylmetal complexes based on the potentialenergy surfaces generated by density functional theory. The predicted KIEs, Ea(D) - Ea(H) values, and AH/AD ratios for the protonolysis of (COD)Pt(II)Me2 and Zn(II)Me2 by TFA agreed very well with experimental values. The protonolysis of ZnMe2 with the concerted pathway has a very flat potentialenergy surface, which produces a very small tunneling effect and therefore a small KIE. The predicted KIE for the stepwise protonolysis (SE(ox) mechanism) of (COD)Pt(II)Me2 was much smaller than that of the concerted pathway, but greater than the KIE of the concerted protonolysis of ZnMe2. A large KIE, which entails a significant tunneling effect, could be used as an experimental probe of the concerted pathway. However, a normal or small KIE should not be used as an indicator of the stepwise mechanism, and the interplay between experiments and reliable theory including tunneling would be essential to uncover the mechanism correctly.

This paper delivers a brief survey of renewable energy technologies applicable to Alaska's climate, latitude, geography, and geology. We first identify Alaska's natural renewable energy resources and which renewable energy technologies would be most productive. e survey the current state of renewable energy technologies and research efforts within the U.S. and, where appropriate, internationally. We also present information on the current state of Alaska's renewable energy assets, incentives, and commercial enterprises. Finally, we escribe places where research efforts at Sandia National Laboratories could assist the state of Alaska with its renewable energy technology investment efforts.

conductance, defined as the ratio of ionic current through the channel to applied voltage, can be calculated in MD simulations by way of applying an external electric field to the system and counting the number of ions that traverse the channel per unit time. If the current is small, a voltage significantly higher than the experimental one needs to be applied to collect sufficient statistics of ion crossing events. Then, the calculated conductance has to be extrapolated to the experimental voltage using procedures of unknown accuracy. Instead, we propose an alternative approach that applies if ion transport through channels can be described with sufficient accuracy by the one-dimensional diffusion equation in the potential given by the free energy profile and applied voltage. Then, it is possible to test the assumptions of the equation, recover the full voltage/current dependence, determine the reliability of the calculated conductance and reconstruct the underlying (equilibrium) free energy profile, all from MD simulations at a single voltage. We will present the underlying theory, model calculations that test this theory and simulations on ion conductance through a channel that has been extensively studied experimentally. To our knowledge this is the first case in which the complete, experimentally measured dependence of the current on applied voltage has been reconstructed from MD simulations.

Molecular dynamics (MD) calculation has been carried out for a dilute aqueous solution of tert-butyl alcohol (TBA) at 298.15 K and with experimental density value by the use of constant temperature technique developed previously. The total number of molecule is 216, seven of which are TBA. The mole fraction of TBA is thus 0.032. For water-water and TBA-water interactions, the MCY (Matsuoka-Clementi-Yoshimine) potential and previously reported potential determined by MO calculation are used. A new potential for TBA-TBA is determined by ab initio LCAO SCF calculations for more than 500 different configurations with an STO-3G basis set and subsequent multiparameter fitting of the MO data to a 12-6-3-1 type potentialenergy function. The MD calculation is extended up to 84 000 time steps (26 ps) and final 60 000 time steps are used to calculate both static and dynamic properties of the system. Both hydrophobic hydration and interaction due to TBA molecules are proved to be stronger than those of methanol studied previously. Structural promotion of water is clearly observed in radial distribution functions and trajectories of each molecule. The configuration and trajectory of all the molecules in solution indicate clearly the association of TBA molecules. It is also found from pair interaction distribution functions that no hydrogen bonding interaction occurs between two TBA molecules. The self-diffusion coefficient of water in the solution is appreciably smaller than that in pure water.

Nuclear reactions are very important for the structure, evolution, nucleosynthesis and various observational manifestations of main-sequence stars, white dwarfs and neutron stars. For astrophysical applications, one needs to know value of S-factor for many reactions at low energies. The experimental measurements of cross-sections at such low energies are essentially not easily available since the Coulomb barrier. Theoretical calculations are model dependent, so that nuclear physics uncertainties of calculated S-factor can be substantial. Using the supersymmetric quantum mechanics one can obtain the supersymmetric partner potential that can vary by several orders of magnitude in the energy range of a given reaction in the calculation of S factor. Since the determination of reaction rates requires accurate values of cross sections at very low energies, then in order to eliminate the main part of the energy dependence of these cross sections one makes use of the astrophysical S-factor in Taylor Expansion series about zero-energy.

We present large scale non-perturbative self energycalculations for the interaction of an ion with a metal surface. Using both the simple jellium potential and more sophisticated ab initio potentials(P. J. Jennings, R. O. Jones and M. Weinert, Phys. Rev. B, 37), 6113 (1988)., we study the complex self energy matrix for various n-manifolds allowing for the calculation of diabatic and adiabatic non-perturbative level shifts and widths, and hybrid orbitals(P. Kürpick and U.Thumm, to be published.). Besides this self energycalculations a new adiabatic close--coupling calculation is being developed that will be applied to the interaction of ions in various charge states with metal surfaces.

A new, general formula that connects the derivatives of the free energy along the selected, generalized coordinates of the system with the instantaneous force acting on these coordinates is derived. The instantaneous force is defined as the force acting on the coordinate of interest so that when it is subtracted from the equations of motion the acceleration along this coordinate is zero. The formula applies to simulations in which the selected coordinates are either unconstrained or constrained to fixed values. It is shown that in the latter case the formula reduces to the expression previously derived by den Otter and Briels. If simulations are carried out without constraining the coordinates of interest, the formula leads to a new method for calculating the free energy changes along these coordinates. This method is tested in two examples - rotation around the C-C bond of 1,2-dichloroethane immersed in water and transfer of fluoromethane across the water-hexane interface. The calculated free energies are compared with those obtained by two commonly used methods. One of them relies on determining the probability density function of finding the system at different values of the selected coordinate and the other requires calculating the average force at discrete locations along this coordinate in a series of constrained simulations. The free energiescalculated by these three methods are in excellent agreement. The relative advantages of each method are discussed.

We propose a Monte Carlo algorithm for the free energycalculation based on configuration space sampling. An upward or downward temperature scan can be used to produce F(T). We implement this algorithm for the Ising model on a square lattice and triangular lattice. Comparison with the exact free energy shows an excellent agreement. We analyze the properties of this algorithm and compare it with the Wang-Landau algorithm, which samples in energy space. This method is applicable to general classical statistical models. The possibility of extending it to quantum systems is discussed.

We have developed a completely general first principles self-consistent full-potential linearized-augmented-plane -wave (LAPW) method program within the density functional formalism to calculate electronic band structure, total energy, pressure and other quantities. No symmetry assumptions are used for the crystal structure. Shape unrestricted charge densities and potentials are calculated inside muffin -tin (MT) spheres as well as in the interstitial regions. All contributions to the Hamiltonian matrix elements are completely taken into account. The core states are treated fully relativistically using the spherical part of the potential only. Scalar relativistic effects are included for the band-states, and spin-orbit coupling is included using a second variation procedure. Both core states and valence states are treated self-consistently, the frozen core approximation is not required. The fast Fourier transformation method is used wherever it is applicable, and this greatly improves the efficiency. This state-of-the-art program has been tested extensively to check the accuracy and convergence properties by comparing calculated electronic band structures, ground state properties, equations of state and cohesive energies for bulk W and GaAs with other theoretical calculations and experimental results. It has been successfully applied to calculate and predict structural and metal-insulator phase transitions for close-packed crystal BaSe and BaTe and the geometric structure of the d-band metal W(001) surface. The results are in generally good agreement with experiment.

The role of the primary binding residue (P1) in complexes between three different subtilases (subtilisin Carlsberg, thermitase and proteinase K) and their canonical protein inhibitor eglin c have been studied by free energycalculations. Based on the crystal structures of eglin c in complex with subtilisin Carlsberg and thermitase, and a homology model of the eglin c-proteinase K complex, a total of 57 mutants have been constructed and docked into their host proteins. The binding free energy was then calculated using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations combined with the linear interaction energy (LIE) method for all complexes differing only in the nature of the amino acid at the P1 position. LIE calculations for 19 different complexes for each subtilase were thus carried out excluding proline. The effects of substitutions at the P1 position on the binding free energies are found to be very large, and positively charged residues (Arg, Lys and His) are particularly deleterious for all three enzymes. The charged variants of the acidic side chains are found to bind more favorably as compared to their protonated states in all three subtilases. Furthermore, hydrophobic amino acids are accommodated most favorably at the S1-site in all three enzymes. Comparison of the three series of binding free energies shows only minor differences in the 19 computed relative binding free energies among these subtilases. This is further reflected in the correlation coefficient between the 23 relative binding free energies obtained, including the possible protonation states of ionizable side chains, but excluding the P1 Pro, for subtilisin Carlsberg versus thermitase (0.95), subtilisin versus proteinase K (0.94) and thermitase versus proteinase K (0.96).

Abstract Thermal stability of proteins is crucial for both biotechnological and therapeutic applications. Rational protein engineering therefore frequently aims at increasing thermal stability by introducing stabilizing mutations. The accurate prediction of the thermodynamic consequences caused by mutations, however, is highly challenging as thermal stability changes are caused by alterations in the free energy of folding. Growing computational power, however, increasingly allows us to use alchemical free energy simulations, such as free energy perturbation or thermodynamic integration, to calculate free energy differences with relatively high accuracy. In this article, we present an automated protocol for setting up alchemical free energycalculations for mutations of naturally occurring amino acids (except for proline) that allows an unprecedented, automated screening of large mutant libraries. To validate the developed protocol, we calculated thermodynamic stability differences for 109 mutations in the microbial Ribonuclease Barnase. The obtained quantitative agreement with experimental data illustrates the potential of the approach in protein engineering and design. PMID:20483340

A simple technique appropriate for introductory materials science courses is outlined for the calculation of bond energies in metals from lattice energies. The approach is applied to body-centered cubic (bcc), face-centered cubic (fcc), and hexagonal-closest-packed (hcp) metals. The strength of these bonds is tabulated for a variety metals and is…

We report a permutationally invariant, ab initio potentialenergy surface (PES) for the OH + HBr → Br + H2O reaction. The PES is a fit to roughly 26 000 spin-free UCCSD(T)/cc-pVDZ-F12a energies and has no classical barrier to reaction. It is used in quasiclassical trajectory calculations with a focus on the thermal rate constant, k(T), over the temperature range 5 to 500 K. Comparisons with available experimental data over the temperature range 23 to 416 K are made using three approaches to treat the OH rotational and associated electronic partition function. All display an inverse temperature dependence of k(T) below roughly 160 K and a nearly constant temperature dependence above 160 K, in agreement with experiment. The calculated rate constant with no treatment of spin-orbit coupling is overall in the best agreement with experiment, being (probably fortuitously) within 20% of it.

The TC 4.7 simplified energycalculation method is a bin method used by the REAP procedure of the Carrier Corporation, except for the load estimating calculations. The simplified procedure was compared with hourly simulation procedures for an office building in Washington, DC. The comparison studied the extent as well as the reasons for agreement and discrepancies due to these two different types of annual energy analysis (bin method and hourly simulation methods). Results of the parallel calculations are discussed and the major reasons of discrepancies between the hourly simulation technique and the simplified TC 4.7 method are identified. Data resulting from the calculation methods are tabulated. (MCW)

Vibrational energy levels of the ammonium cation (NH4+) and its deuterated isotopomers are calculated using a numerically exact kinetic energy operator on a recently developed nine-dimensional permutation invariant semiglobal potentialenergy surface fitted to a large number of high-level ab initio points. Like CH4, the vibrational levels of NH4+ and ND4+ exhibit a polyad structure, characterized by a collective quantum number P = 2(v1 + v3) + v2 + v4. As a result, the low-lying vibrational levels of all isotopomers are assigned and the agreement with available experimental data is better than 1 cm–1.

We analyze different approaches to determine the energy from a perturbation using modern electronic structure methods. We compare the energy of perturbation from standard perturbation theory with what is obtained directly in self consistent band structure methods. The method is applied for studies such perturbations as internal magnetic field and spin orbital coupling in solids. This method is further compared with integration over the coupling constant. Numerical tests have been performed for magnetic Fe and Gd systems using the local density approximation. The main advantage of present scheme is its usefulness in methods for strongly correlated electronic systems studies where total energycalculations are not always possible. Specific calculations are performed using self consistent quasiparticle GW and LDA+U calculations for MnBi where the right value of magnetic moment and sign/value of magnetic anisotropy as a function of temperature have been obtained. This research is supported in part by the Critical Materials Institute, an Energy Innovation Hub funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy through the Ames Laboraory.

We show that the Bethe-Salpeter equation for the scattering amplitude in the limit of zero incident energy can be transformed into a purely Euclidean form, as it is the case for the bound states. The decoupling between Euclidean and Minkowski amplitudes is only possible for zero energy scattering observables and allows determining the scattering length from the Euclidean Bethe-Salpeter amplitude. Such a possibility strongly simplifies the numerical solution of the Bethe-Salpeter equation and suggests an alternative way to compute the scattering length in Lattice Euclidean calculations without using the Luscher formalism. The derivations contained in this work were performed for scalar particles and one-boson exchange kernel. They can be generalized to the fermion case and more involved interactions.

Potentialenergy curves for the X(sup 1)sigma+ and V(sup 1)sigma+ states of HF and DF have been calculated by the Rydberg-Klein-Rees method. The results calculated from the different sets of data for HF and DF are found to be in very good agreement. The theoretical results of Karo are compared to the experimental results obtained here.

The surface energies of individual crystallographic faces of crystalline sucrose were calculated using two forms of the 6-exp (Buckingham) potential. Hydrogen bond energies were calculated as a sum of O-H, O…H and O…O interactions where the Lippincott-Schroeder short-range potential was used for O-H and O…H pairs and the 6-exp potential for the non-bonded O…O interactions. Assuming that the surface energy equals half of the cohesive energy of the crystal, the attachment and surface energies of most of the faces found on as sucrose crystal were calculated. A computer program was written to draw the theoretical shape of crystals given the positions (central distances) of its faces. The resulting sucrose shapes are elongated along the c-axis. It is argued that the c-axis elongated habit is an intrinsic shape for vapor grown sucrose crystals (if realizable) and it is suggested that the usual shapes of solution grown sucrose crystals can be explained in terms of solvent (water) adsorption.

Parton luminosities are convenient for estimating how the physics potential of Large Hadron Collider experiments depends on the energy of the proton beams. I present parton luminosities, ratios of parton luminosities, and contours of fixed parton luminosity for gg, u{bar d}, and qq interactions over the energy range relevant to the Large Hadron Collider, along with example analyses for specific processes.

This paper presents a new ground state (1 {sup 2}A{sup '}) electronic potentialenergy surface for the F({sup 2}P)+HCl{yields}HF+Cl({sup 2}P) reaction. The ab initio calculations are done at the multireference configuration interaction+Davidson correction (MRCI+Q) level of theory by complete basis set extrapolation of the aug-cc-pVnZ (n=2,3,4) energies. Due to low-lying charge transfer states in the transition state region, the molecular orbitals are obtained by six-state dynamically weighted multichannel self-consistent field methods. Additional perturbative refinement of the energies is achieved by implementing simple one-parameter correlation energy scaling to reproduce the experimental exothermicity ({delta}E=-33.06 kcal/mol) for the reaction. Ab initio points are fitted to an analytical function based on sum of two- and three-body contributions, yielding a rms deviation of <0.3 kcal/mol for all geometries below 10 kcal/mol above the barrier. Of particular relevance to nonadiabatic dynamics, the calculations show significant multireference character in the transition state region, which is located 3.8 kcal/mol with respect to F+HCl reactants and features a strongly bent F-H-Cl transition state geometry ({theta}{approx_equal}123.5 deg. ). Finally, the surface also exhibits two conical intersection seams that are energetically accessible at low collision energies. These seams arise naturally from allowed crossings in the C{sub {infinity}}{sub v} linear configuration that become avoided in C{sub s} bent configurations of both the reactant and product, and should be a hallmark of all X-H-Y atom transfer reaction dynamics between ({sup 2}P) halogen atoms.

Accelerator-driven systems for fissile materials production have been proposed and studied since the early 1950s. Recent advances in beam power levels for small accelerators have raised the possibility that such use could be feasible for a potential proliferator. The objective of this study is to review the state of technology development for accelerator-driven spallation neutron sources and subcritical reactors. Energy and power requirements were calculated for a proton accelerator-driven neutron spallation source and subcritical reactors to produce a significant amount of fissile material--plutonium.

Various methods of calculating the internal energy of diatomic molecules are studied. An accurate and efficient method for computing the eigenvalues of the vibrational Schroedinger equation for an arbitrary potential is developed. The method is based on a finite-element discretization using the cubic Lobatto element. A combination of spectrum slicing and the Laguerre algorithm is used to solve for the eigenvalues. A simple method to compute the quasi-bound states is presented. For N2 molecules, all vibrational-rotational states of eleven available electronic potentials are computed, and summed to obtain the exact internal energy function with temperature. The total computation required 314 seconds of CPU-time on NASA's Cray 2 computer. Various approximate models are discussed and compared with the exact numerical simulation. It is shown that the splitting of the macroscopic internal energy into separate electronic, rotational, and vibrational energies is not justified at high temperatures.

Relativistic proton inelastic scattering from different targets (16O, 24Mg, 28Si, 40Ca, 54Fe, 58Ni, 90Zr, 154Sm, 176Yb, and 208Pb) at intermediate energies is analyzed in the framework of phenomenological optical potentials based on the Dirac formalism. Parameters of the Dirac phenomenological potential with Woods Saxon (WS) shape are obtained. The first order vibrational collective model with one phonon is used to calculate the transition optical potentials to the first low-lying excited state (2+) of the investigated target nuclei. Also, the variation of deformation length ( δ) with energy and mass number is studied. It is noticed that the deformation length increases slightly with energy at intermediate range.

We report estimates of complete basis set (CBS) limits at the second-order Møller-Plesset perturbation level of theory (MP2) for the binding energies of the lowest lying isomers within each of the four major families of minima of (H2O)20. These were obtained by performing MP2 calculations with the family of correlation-consistent basis sets up to quadruple zeta quality, augmented with additional diffuse functions (aug-cc-pVnZ, n=D, T, Q). The MP2/CBS estimates are: -200.1 kcal/mol (dodecahedron, 30 hydrogen bonds), -212.6 kcal/mol (fused cubes, 36 hydrogen bonds), -215.0 (face-sharing pentagonal prisms, 35 hydrogen bonds) and –217.9 kcal/mol (edge-sharing pentagonal prisms, 34 hydrogen bonds). The energetic ordering of the various (H2O)20 isomers does not follow monotonically the number of hydrogen bonds as in the case of smaller clusters such as the different isomers of the water hexamer. The dodecahedron lies ca. 18 kcal/mol higher in energy than the most stable edge-sharing pentagonal prism isomer. The TIP4P, ASP-W4, TTM2-R, AMOEBA and TTM2-F empirical potentials also predict the energetic stabilization of the edge-sharing pentagonal prisms with respect to the dodecahedron, albeit they universally underestimate the cluster binding energies with respect to the MP2/CBS result. Among them, the TTM2-F potential was found to predict the absolute cluster binding energies to within < 1% from the corresponding MP2/CBS values, whereas the error for the rest of the potentials considered in this study ranges from 3-5%.

We report estimates of complete basis set (CBS) limits at the second-order Møller-Plesset perturbation level of theory (MP2) for the binding energies of the lowest-lying isomers within each of the four major families of minima of (H(2)O)(20). These were obtained by performing MP2 calculations with the family of correlation-consistent basis sets up to quadruple zeta quality, augmented with additional diffuse functions (aug-cc-pVnZ, n=D, T, Q). The MP2/CPS estimates are -200.1 (dodecahedron, 30 hydrogen bonds), -212.6 (fused cubes, 36 hydrogen bonds), -215.0 (face-sharing pentagonal prisms, 35 hydrogen bonds), and -217.9 kcal/mol (edge-sharing pentagonal prisms, 34 hydrogen bonds). The energetic ordering of the various (H(2)O)(20) isomers does not follow monotonically the number of hydrogen bonds as in the case of smaller clusters such as the different isomers of the water hexamer. The dodecahedron lies ca. 18 kcal/mol higher in energy than the most stable edge-sharing pentagonal prism isomer. The TIP4P, ASP-W4, TTM2-R, AMOEBA, and TTM2-F empirical potentials also predict the energetic stabilization of the edge-sharing pentagonal prisms with respect to the dodecahedron, albeit they universally underestimate the cluster binding energies with respect to the MP2/CBS result. Among them, the TTM2-F potential was found to predict the absolute cluster binding energies to within <1% from the corresponding MP2/CBS values, whereas the error for the rest of the potentials considered in this study ranges from 3% to 5%.

In this paper results of consistent force field modeling (CFF) of the potential function to conversion of the gauche (g) to the trans (t) conformer of 1,2-difluoroethane (DFE) isolated in an argon matrix will be reported. Starting point are locally stable configurations gDFE:Ar 364 (defect GH1) and tDFE:Ar 364 (TH1) obtained in previous work from CFF modeling of a cube shaped Ar 364 fragment containing one DFE molecule in its center. Using the dihedral angle of DFE as an independent parameter the minimum energy path of the conversion process gDFE:Ar 364→tDFE:Ar 364 will be determined by CFF energy minimization. Determination of the minimum energy path is found to require large numbers of energy minimization steps and to lead to a rather complicated motion of the molecule with respect to the crystal fragment. Surprisingly the molecule-matrix interactions lead to a reduction of the g-t barrier by ≈500 cal/mol and to a stabilization of the trans species by ≈500 cal/mol. This finding is a consequence of a delicate interplay of matrix-molecule and matrix-matrix interactions. Calculation of the electric polarization energy (induced dipole-first-order polarization approximation) is based on extended ab initio calculations of dipole and quadrupole moments and a bond polarizability estimate of the first-order polarizability of DFE as a function of the internal rotation angle, on Fourier expansion of multipole components and use of symmetry for reduction of the order of the linear system defining the (self-consistent) induced dipole moments of all Ar atoms. Electric polarization is found to alter the potential function of the conversion process in a profound way: the g-t barrier and the t-g energy difference are increased to ≈3000 cal/mol and to ≈1500 cal/mol respectively (≈2500 and ≈530 cal/mol respectively for free DFE). Further applications of the technique developed in this work to related problems of matrix isolated molecules, e.g., vibrational matrix

A robust molecular dynamics simulation method for calculating dislocation core energies has been developed. This method has unique advantages: it does not require artificial boundary conditions, is applicable for mixed dislocations, and can yield highly converged results regardless of the atomistic system size. Utilizing a high-fidelity bond order potential, we have applied this method in aluminium to calculate the dislocation core energy as a function of the angle β between the dislocation line and Burgers vector. These calculations show that, for the face-centred-cubic aluminium explored, the dislocation core energy follows the same functional dependence on β as the dislocation elasticmore » energy: Ec = A·sin2β + B·cos2β, and this dependence is independent of temperature between 100 and 300 K. By further analysing the energetics of an extended dislocation core, we elucidate the relationship between the core energy and radius of a perfect versus extended dislocation. With our methodology, the dislocation core energy can be accurately accounted for in models of plastic deformation.« less

A robust molecular-dynamics simulation method for calculating dislocation core energies has been developed. This method has unique advantages: It does not require artificial boundary conditions, is applicable for mixed dislocations, and can yield converged results regardless of the atomistic system size. Utilizing a high-fidelity bond order potential, we have applied this method in aluminium to calculate the dislocation core energy as a function of the angle β between the dislocation line and the Burgers vector. These calculations show that, for the face-centered-cubic aluminium explored, the dislocation core energy follows the same functional dependence on β as the dislocation elastic energy: Ec=A sin2β +B cos2β , and this dependence is independent of temperature between 100 and 300 K. By further analyzing the energetics of an extended dislocation core, we elucidate the relationship between the core energy and the core radius of a perfect versus an extended dislocation. With our methodology, the dislocation core energy can accurately be accounted for in models of dislocation-mediated plasticity.

This paper is an exploration of the concept of energy, illuminated by the transformative insights of the special theory of relativity. Focusing on potentialenergy (PE), it will be shown that PE as presently defined is in conflict with the tenets of special relativity. Even though PE remains an indispensable theoretical device its actual physicality is questionable. Moreover its ontological status is quite different from that of both kinetic energy and mass, a significant point that is not widely appreciated. We will establish that PE is a theoretical concept as opposed to an empirical one; it is a descriptor of mass-energy without a detectable physical presence of its own. PE is a measure of energy stored, it is not the energy stored.

Ab initio calculations on potentialenergy curves (PECs), spectroscopic constants, transition dipole moments, radiative transition probabilities and lifetimes for the ground state (X(2)Σ(+)) and the first excited state (A(2)Π) of MgX (X=F, Cl, Br, I) molecules are determined by high-level internally contracted multi-reference configuration interaction (ic-MRCI) method. In order to improve the calculation, the Davidson modification (+Q) and scalar relativistic correction are included. The present results show that most of spectroscopic constants are in accordance with the measurements, the equilibrium internuclear distance Re increases while the other spectroscopic constants reduce along with the increasing of the atomic number of the halogen from F to I. Diagonal vibrational transitions are found to be dominant for the A(2)Π→X(2)Σ(+) system of MgX molecules. The corresponding radiative lifetimes of ν'=0 are computed to be 7.24, 9.98, 18.94 and 22.72 ns for MgF, MgCl, MgBr, and MgI, respectively. The calculated result of MgF molecule is in good agreement with the recent theoretical result of 7.16 ns, with a small relative error percent of 1.11%.

We report an analytical full-dimensional potentialenergy surface for the GeH4 + OH → GeH3 + H2O reaction based on ab initio calculations. It is a practically barrierless reaction with very high exothermicity and the presence of intermediate complexes in the entrance and exit channels, reproducing the experimental evidence. Using this surface, thermal rate constants for the GeH4 + OH/OD isotopic reactions were calculated using two approaches: variational transition state theory (VTST) and quasi-classical trajectory (QCT) calculations, in the temperature range 200-1000 K, and results were compared with the only experimental data at 298 K. Both methods showed similar values over the whole temperature range, with differences less than 30%; and the experimental data was reproduced at 298 K, with negative temperature dependence below 300 K, which is associated with the presence of an intermediate complex in the entrance channel. However, while the QCT approach reproduced the experimental kinetic isotope effect, the VTST approach underestimated it. We suggest that this difference is associated with the harmonic approximation used in the treatment of vibrational frequencies.

Potentialenergy surfaces are calculated by use of the most advanced asymmetric two-center shell model that allows us to obtain shell-and-pairing corrections that are added to the Yukawa-plus-exponential model deformation energy. Shell effects are of crucial importance for the experimental observation of spontaneous disintegration by heavy-ion emission. Results for {sup 222}Ra, {sup 232}U, {sup 236}Pu, and {sup 242}Cm illustrate the main ideas and show for the first time, for a cluster emitter, a potential barrier obtained by use of the macroscopic-microscopic method.

A switching function formalism is used to derive an analytic potentialenergy surface for the O + OH in equilibrium HO/sub 2/ in equilibrium H + O/sub 2/ reactive system. Both experimental and ab initio data are used to derive parameters for the potentialenergy surface. Trajectory calculations for highly excited HO/sub 2/ are performed on this surface. From these trajectories quasi-periodic eigentrajectories are found for vibrational levels near the HO/sub 2/ dissociation threshold with small amounts of quanta in the OH stretch mode and large amounts of quanta in the OO stretch mode.

Download the CHP Emissions Calculator, a tool that calculates the difference between the anticipated carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxide emissions from a CHP system to those of a separate heat and power system.

An assessment is made of the dominant features contributing to the triton potentialenergy, with the objective of understanding qualitatively their origins and sensitivities. Relativistic effects, short-range repulsion, and OPEP dominance are discussed. A determination of the importance of various regions of nucleon-nucleon separation is made numerically.

This article shows that, by applying the Hellman-Feynman theorem alone to screened Coulomb potentials, the first four coefficients in the energy series in powers of the perturbation parameter can be obtained from the unperturbed Coulomb system. (Author/HM)

The goal of this program is to calculate accurate potentialenergy surfaces (PES) for both reactive and nonreactive systems. To do this the electronic Schrodinger equation must be solved. Our approach to this problem starts with multiconfiguration self-consistent field (MCSCF) reference wavefunctions. These reference wavefunctions are designed to be sufficiently flexible to accurately describe changes in electronic structure over a broad range of geometries. Electron correlation effects are included via multireference, singles and doubles configuration interaction (MRSDCI) calculations. With this approach, the authors are able to provide useful predictions of the energetics for a broad range of systems.

This paper presents an overview of the modeling approach andhighlights key findings of a California industrial energy efficiencypotential study. In addition to providing estimates of technical andeconomic potential, the study examines achievable program potential undervarious program-funding scenarios. The focus is on electricity andnatural gas savings for manufacturing in the service territories ofCalifornia's investor-owned utilities (IOUs). The assessment is conductedby industry type and by end use. Both crosscutting technologies andindustry-specific process measures are examined. Measure penetration intothe marketplace is modeled as a function of customer awareness, measurecost effectiveness, and perceived market barriers. Data for the studycomes from a variety of sources, including: utility billing records, theEnergy Information Association (EIA) Manufacturing Energy ConsumptionSurvey (MECS), state-sponsored avoided cost studies, energy efficiencyprogram filings, and technology savings and cost data developed throughLawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). The study identifies 1,706GWh and 47 Mth (million therms) per year of achievable potential over thenext twelve years under recent levels of program expenditures, accountingfor 5.2 percent of industrial electricity consumption and 1.3 percent ofindustrial natural gas consumption. These estimates grow to 2,748 GWh and192 Mth per year if all cost-effective and achievable opportunities arepursued. Key industrial electricity end uses, in terms of energy savingspotential, include compressed air and pumping systems that combine toaccount for about half of the total achievable potential estimates. Fornatural gas, savings are concentrated in the boiler and process heatingend uses, accounting for over 99 percent to total achievablepotential.

On June 27 and 28, 1989, the US Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories were convened to discuss plans for the development of a National Energy Strategy (NES) and, in particular, the analytic needs in support of NES that could be addressed by the laboratories. As a result of that meeting, interlaboratory teams were formed to produce analytic white papers on key topics, and a lead laboratory was designated for each core laboratory team. The broad-ranging renewables assignment is summarized by the following issue statement from the Office of Policy, Planning and Analysis: to what extent can renewable energy technologies contribute to diversifying sources of energy supply What are the major barriers to greater renewable energy use and what is the potential timing of widespread commercialization for various categories of applications This report presents the results of the intensive activity initiated by the June 1989 meeting to produce a white paper on renewable energy. Scores of scientists, analysts, and engineers in the five core laboratories gave generously of their time over the past eight months to produce this document. Their generous, constructive efforts are hereby gratefully acknowledged. 126 refs., 44 figs., 32 tabs.

A method is presented for generating a good initial guess of a transition path between given initial and final states of a system without evaluation of the energy. An objective function surface is constructed using an interpolation of pairwise distances at each discretization point along the path and the nudged elastic band method then used to find an optimal path on this image dependent pair potential (IDPP) surface. This provides an initial path for the more computationally intensive calculations of a minimum energy path on an energy surface obtained, for example, by ab initio or density functional theory. The optimal path on the IDPP surface is significantly closer to a minimum energy path than a linear interpolation of the Cartesian coordinates and, therefore, reduces the number of iterations needed to reach convergence and averts divergence in the electronic structure calculations when atoms are brought too close to each other in the initial path. The method is illustrated with three examples: (1) rotation of a methyl group in an ethane molecule, (2) an exchange of atoms in an island on a crystal surface, and (3) an exchange of two Si-atoms in amorphous silicon. In all three cases, the computational effort in finding the minimum energy path with DFT was reduced by a factor ranging from 50% to an order of magnitude by using an IDPP path as the initial path. The time required for parallel computations was reduced even more because of load imbalance when linear interpolation of Cartesian coordinates was used.

Accurate thermodynamic data are required to improve the performance of chemical hydrides that are potential hydrogen storage materials. Boron compounds are among the most interesting candidates. However, different experimental measurements of the borane dimerization energy resulted in a rather wide range (-34.3 to -39.1) ± 2 kcal/mol. Diffusion Monte Carlo (DMC) simulations usually recover more than 95% of the correlation energy, so energy differences rely less on error cancellation than other methods. DMC energies of BH(3), B(2)H(6), BH(3)CO, CO, and BH(2)(+) allowed us to predict the borane dimerization energy, both via the direct process and indirect processes such as the dissociation of BH(3)CO. Our D(e) = -43.12(8) kcal/mol, corrected for the zero point energy evaluated by considering the anharmonic contributions, results in a borane dimerization energy of -36.59(8) kcal/mol. The process via the dissociation of BH(3)CO gives -34.5(2) kcal/mol. Overall, our values suggest a slightly less D(e) than the most recent W4 estimate D(e) = -44.47 kcal/mol [A. Karton and J. M. L. Martin, J. Phys. Chem. A 111, 5936 (2007)]. Our results show that reliable thermochemical data for boranes can be predicted by fixed node (FN)-DMC calculations.

Calculating free energy in computer simulations is of central importance in statistical mechanics of condensed media and its applications to chemistry and biology not only because it is the most comprehensive and informative quantity that characterizes the eqUilibrium state, but also because it often provides an efficient route to access dynamic and kinetic properties of a system. Most of applications of equilibrium free energycalculations to non-equilibrium processes rely on a description in which a molecule or an ion diffuses in the potential of mean force. In general case this description is a simplification, but it might be satisfactorily accurate in many instances of practical interest. This hypothesis has been tested in the example of the electrodiffusion equation . Conductance of model ion channels has been calculated directly through counting the number of ion crossing events observed during long molecular dynamics simulations and has been compared with the conductance obtained from solving the generalized Nernst-Plank equation. It has been shown that under relatively modest conditions the agreement between these two approaches is excellent, thus demonstrating the assumptions underlying the diffusion equation are fulfilled. Under these conditions the electrodiffusion equation provides an efficient approach to calculating the full voltage-current dependence routinely measured in electrophysiological experiments.

In this paper we present high-order spectral element discontinuous Galerkin simulations for wake field and wake potentialcalculations. Numerical discretizations are based on body-conforming hexagonal meshes on Gauss-Lobatto-Legendre grids. We demonstrate wake potential profiles for cylindrically symmetric cavity structures in 3D, including the cases for linear and quadratic transitions between two cross sections. Wake potentialcalculations are carried out on 2D surfaces for various bunch sizes.

We recently showed for a large dataset of pKas and reduction potentials that free energiescalculated directly within the SMD continuum model compares very well with corresponding thermodynamic cycle calculations in both aqueous and organic solvents (Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2015, 17, 2859). In this paper, we significantly expand the scope of our study to examine the suitability of this approach for the calculation of general solution phase kinetics and thermodynamics, in conjunction with several commonly used solvation models (SMDM062X, SMD-HF, CPCM-UAKS, and CPCM-UAHF) for a broad range of systems and reaction types. This includes cluster-continuum schemes for pKacalculations, as well as various neutral, radical and ionic reactions such as enolization, cycloaddition, hydrogen and chlorine atom transfer, and bimolecular SN2 and E2 reactions. On the basis of this benchmarking study, we conclude that the accuracies of both approaches are generally very similar – the mean errors for Gibbs free energy changes of neutral and ionic reactions are approximately 5 kJ mol-1 and 25 kJ mol-1 respectively. In systems where there are significant structural changes due to solvation, as is the case for certain ionic transition states and amino acids, the direct approach generally afford free energy changes that are in better agreement with experiment. The results indicate that when appropriate combinations of electronic structure methods are employed, the direct approach provides a reliable alternative to the thermodynamic cycle calculations of solution phase kinetics and thermodynamics across a broad range of organic reactions.

We recently showed for a large dataset of pKas and reduction potentials that free energiescalculated directly within the SMD continuum model compares very well with corresponding thermodynamic cycle calculations in both aqueous and organic solvents (Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2015, 17, 2859). In this paper, we significantly expand the scope of our study to examine the suitability of this approach for the calculation of general solution phase kinetics and thermodynamics, in conjunction with several commonly used solvation models (SMDM062X, SMD-HF, CPCM-UAKS, and CPCM-UAHF) for a broad range of systems and reaction types. This includes cluster-continuum schemes for pKa calculations,more » as well as various neutral, radical and ionic reactions such as enolization, cycloaddition, hydrogen and chlorine atom transfer, and bimolecular SN2 and E2 reactions. On the basis of this benchmarking study, we conclude that the accuracies of both approaches are generally very similar – the mean errors for Gibbs free energy changes of neutral and ionic reactions are approximately 5 kJ mol-1 and 25 kJ mol-1 respectively. In systems where there are significant structural changes due to solvation, as is the case for certain ionic transition states and amino acids, the direct approach generally afford free energy changes that are in better agreement with experiment. The results indicate that when appropriate combinations of electronic structure methods are employed, the direct approach provides a reliable alternative to the thermodynamic cycle calculations of solution phase kinetics and thermodynamics across a broad range of organic reactions.« less

Background: The possibility that an unconventional depletion (referred to as a "bubble") occurs in the center of the charge density distribution of certain nuclei due to a purely quantum mechanical effect has attracted theoretical and experimental attention in recent years. Based on a mean-field rationale, a correlation between the occurrence of such a semibubble and an anomalously weak splitting between low angular-momentum spin-orbit partners has been further conjectured. Energy density functional and valence-space shell model calculations have been performed to identify and characterize the best candidates, among which 34Si appears as a particularly interesting case. While the experimental determination of the charge density distribution of the unstable 34Si is currently out of reach, (d ,p ) experiments on this nucleus have been performed recently to test the correlation between the presence of a bubble and an anomalously weak 1 /2--3 /2- splitting in the spectrum of 35Si as compared to 37S. Purpose: We study the potential bubble structure of 34Si on the basis of the state-of-the-art ab initio self-consistent Green's function many-body method. Methods: We perform the first ab initio calculations of 34Si and 36S. In addition to binding energies, the first observables of interest are the charge density distribution and the charge root-mean-square radius for which experimental data exist in 36S. The next observable of interest is the low-lying spectroscopy of 35Si and 37S obtained from (d ,p ) experiments along with the spectroscopy of 33Al and 35P obtained from knock-out experiments. The interpretation in terms of the evolution of the underlying shell structure is also provided. The study is repeated using several chiral effective field theory Hamiltonians as a way to test the robustness of the results with respect to input internucleon interactions. The convergence of the results with respect to the truncation of the many-body expansion, i.e., with respect to

The minimum energy path for the addition of a hydrogen atom to N2 is characterized in CASSCF/CCI calculations using the (4s3p2d1f/3s2p1d) basis set, with additional single point calculations at the stationary points of the potentialenergy surface using the (5s4p3d2f/4s3p2d) basis set. These calculations represent the most extensive set of ab initio calculations completed to date, yielding a zero point corrected barrier for HN2 dissociation of approx. 8.5 kcal mol/1. The lifetime of the HN2 species is estimated from the calculated geometries and energetics using both conventional Transition State Theory and a method which utilizes an Eckart barrier to compute one dimensional quantum mechanical tunneling effects. It is concluded that the lifetime of the HN2 species is very short, greatly limiting its role in both termolecular recombination reactions and combustion processes.

In this work, the solvation free energies of 20 organic molecules from the 4th Statistical Assessment of the Modeling of Proteins and Ligands (SAMPL4) have been calculated. The sampling of phase space is carried out at a molecular mechanical level, and the associated free energy changes are estimated using the Bennett Acceptance Ratio (BAR). Then the quantum mechanical (QM) corrections are computed through the indirect Non-Boltzmann Bennett's acceptance ratio (NBB) or the thermodynamics perturbation (TP) method. We show that BAR+TP gives a minimum analytic variance for the calculated solvation free energy at the Gaussian limit and performs slightly better than NBB in practice. Furthermore, the expense of the QM calculations in TP is only half of that in NBB. We also show that defining the biasing potential as the difference of the solute-solvent interaction energy, instead of the total energy, can converge the calculated solvation free energies much faster but possibly to different values. Based on the experimental solvation free energies which have been published before, it is discovered in this study that BLYP yields better results than MP2 and some other later functionals such as B3LYP, M06-2X, and ωB97X-D.

A new potential has been derived for ceria and used to calculate its lattice and defect properties. The Ce4+ &ctdot;O2- potential is obtained via a combination of empirical fitting to crystal structural data and parametric fitting to additional physical properties, while the O2- &ctdot;O2- potential is transferred from earlier publications on UO2 and PuO2 . The overall potential is subsequently verified and validated by calculation of elastic and dielectric constants, whose values agree favourably with those measured experimentally. The potential is then employed to calculate intrinsic defect formation energies and predict the most favourable type of intrinsic disorder.

The mechanism of the O((3)P) + CH3CCH reaction was investigated using a combined experimental/theoretical approach. Experimentally the reaction dynamics was studied using crossed molecular beams (CMB) with mass-spectrometric detection and time-of-flight analysis at 9.2 kcal/mol collision energy. Theoretically master equation (ME) simulations were performed on a potentialenergy surface (PES) determined using high-level ab initio electronic structure calculations. In this paper (II) the theoretical results are described and compared with experiments, while in paper (I) are reported and discussed the results of the experimental study. The PES was investigated by determining structures and vibrational frequencies of wells and transition states at the CASPT2/aug-cc-pVTZ level using a minimal active space. Energies were then determined at the CASPT2 level increasing systematically the active space and at the CCSD(T) level extrapolating to the complete basis set limit. Two separate portions of the triplet PES were investigated, as O((3)P) can add either on the terminal or the central carbon of the unsaturated propyne bond. Minimum energy crossing points (MECPs) between the triplet and singlet PESs were searched at the CASPT2 level. The calculated spin-orbit coupling constants between the T1 and S0 electronic surfaces were ∼25 cm(-1) for both PESs. The portions of the singlet PES that can be accessed from the MECPs were investigated at the same level of theory. The system reactivity was predicted integrating stochastically the one-dimensional ME using Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus theory to determine rate constants on the full T1/S0 PESs, accounting explicitly for intersystem crossing (ISC) using the Landau-Zener model. The computational results are compared both with the branching ratios (BRs) determined experimentally in the companion paper (I) and with those estimated in a recent kinetic study at 298 K. The ME results allow to interpret the main system reactivity: CH

In this paper, we have applied a three-dimensional approach for the calculation of the relativistic nucleon-nucleon potential. The quadratic operator relation between the non-relativistic and the relativistic nucleon-nucleon interactions is formulated as a function of relative two-nucleon momentum vectors, which leads to a three-dimensional integral equation. The integral equation is solved by the iteration method, and the matrix elements of the relativistic potential are calculated from non-relativistic ones. The spin-independent Malfliet-Tjon potential is employed in the numerical calculations, and the numerical tests indicate that the two-nucleon observables calculated by the relativistic potential are preserved with high accuracy.

We discuss some interesting aspects in the calculation of the electrostatic potential of charge distributions extending to infinity. The presentation is suitable for the advanced undergraduate level. (Contains 3 footnotes.)

Quantum mechanical methods have been used to compute potentialenergy surfaces for chemical reactions. The reactions studied were among those believed to be important to the NASP and HSR programs and included the recombination of two H atoms with several different third bodies; the reactions in the thermal Zeldovich mechanism; the reactions of H atom with O2, N2, and NO; reactions involved in the thermal De-NO(x) process; and the reaction of CH(squared Pi) with N2 (leading to 'prompt NO'). These potentialenergy surfaces have been used to compute reaction rate constants and rates of unimolecular decomposition. An additional application was the calculation of transport properties of gases using a semiclassical approximation (and in the case of interactions involving hydrogen inclusion of quantum mechanical effects).

We present a theoretical study of the cyclooctatetraene (COT) molecule. Seven COT structures are located on the singlet ground state potentialenergy surface. Four of them, which present D2d (tub), Cs (bicyclo[4.2.0]octa-2,4,7-triene or BOT), C2h (chair) and D4 (crown) symmetries are stable species, and the other three are transition state structures showing Cs, D4h, and D8h symmetry. We discuss the symmetry of wave functions for these stationary points. Geometries, energies, and harmonic vibrational frequencies of these structures, and energy gaps between singlet-triplet states and low-lying singlets are presented. For the planar D4h and D8h structures, Jahn-Teller and tunneling effects have also been discussed. Ring inversion, bond shifting and valence isomerization reactive channels from the tub COT conformer are discussed from the point of view of the corresponding transition state structures. Where possible, in order to lend support to this theoretical information comparisons with recent transition state spectroscopy data are made.

The evolution of the potentialenergy landscape is analysed in detail for ten even-even polonium isotopes in the mass range 188\\lt A\\lt 220 as obtained within the macroscopic-microscopic approach, relying on the Lublin-Strasbourg drop model and the Yukawa-folded single-particle energies for calculating the microscopic shell and pairing corrections. A variant of the modified Funny-Hills nuclear shape parametrization is used to efficiently map possible fission paths. The approach explains the main features of the fragment partition as measured in low-energy fission along the polonium chain. The latter lies in a transitional region of the nuclear chart, and will be essential to consistently understand the evolution of fission properties from neutron-deficient mercury to heavy actinides. The ability of our method to predict fission observables over such an extended region looks promising.

A consistent set of ab initio effective core potentials (ECP) has been generated for the main group elements from Na to Bi using the procedure originally developed by Kahn. The ECP's are derived from all-electron numerical Hartree--Fock atomic wave functions and fit to analytical representations for use in molecular calculations. For Rb to Bi the ECP's are generated from the relativistic Hartree--Fock atomic wave functions of Cowan which incorporate the Darwin and mass--velocity terms. Energy-optimized valence basis sets of (3s3p) primitive Gaussians are presented for use with the ECP's. Comparisons between all-electron and valence-electron ECP calculations are presented for NaF, NaCl, Cl/sub 2/, Cl/sub 2//sup -/, Br/sub 2/, Br/sub 2//sup -/, and Xe/sub 2//sup +/. The results show that the average errors introduced by the ECP's are generally only a few percent.

Here, for the first time, we propose the concept of Ocean Convective Available PotentialEnergy (OCAPE), which is the maximum kinetic energy (KE) per unit seawater mass achievable by ocean convection. OCAPE occurs through a different mechanism from atmospheric CAPE, and involves the interplay of temperature and salinity on the equation of state of seawater. The thermobaric effect, which arises because the thermal coefficient of expansion increases with depth, is an important ingredient of OCAPE. We develop an accurate algorithm to calculate the OCAPE for a given temperature and salinity profile. We then validate our calculation of OCAPE by comparing it with the conversion of OCAPE to KE in a 2-D numerical model. We propose that OCAPE is an important energy source of ocean deep convection and contributes to deep water formation. OCAPE, like Atmospheric CAPE, can help predict deep convection and may also provide a useful constraint for modelling deep convection in ocean GCMs. We plot the global distribution of OCAPE using data from the World Ocean Atlas 2009 (WOA09) and see many important features. These include large values of OCAPE in the Labrador, Greenland, Weddell and Mediterranean Seas, which are consistent with our present observations and understanding, but also identify some new features like the OCAPE pattern in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC). We propose that the diagnosis of OCAPE can improve our understanding of global patterns of ocean convection and deep water formation as well as ocean stratification, the meridional overturning circulation and mixed layer processes. The background of this work is briefly introduced as below. Open-ocean deep convection can significantly modify water properties both at the ocean surface and throughout the water column (Gordon 1982). Open-ocean convection is also an important mechanism for Ocean Deep Water formation and the transport of heat, freshwater and nutrient (Marshall and Schott 1999). Open

This study reveals the reason core 1s orbital energies and the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energies of hydrogen and rare gas atoms are underestimated by long-range corrected (LC) density functional theory (DFT), which quantitatively reproduces the HOMO energies of other systems and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energies. Applying the pseudospectral regional (PR) self-interaction correction (SIC) drastically improved the underestimated orbital energies in LC-DFT calculations, while maintaining or improving the accuracies in the calculated valence HOMO and LUMO energies. This indicates that the self-interaction error in exchange functionals causes the underestimations of core 1s orbital energies and the HOMO energies of hydrogen and rare gas atoms in LC-DFT calculations. To clarify the reason for the improvement, the fractional occupation dependences of total electronic energies and orbital energies were examined. The calculated results clearly showed that the LC-PR functional gives almost linear dependences of total electronic energies for a slight decrease in the occupation number of core 1s orbitals, although this linear dependence disappears for significant decrease due to the shrinking of exchange self-interaction regions. It was also clarified that the PRSIC hardly affects the occupation number dependences of the total electronic energies and orbital energies for the fractional occupations of HOMOs and LUMOs. As a result, it was concluded that core orbital energies are obtained accurately by combining LC-DFT with PRSIC.

An attempt is made to develop a straightforward and sufficiently accurate method for calculating the energies of complex ion states. The method is based on Bohr's computational model and Sommerfeld's model in relativistic form (for circular orbits only). The method proposed here makes it possible to calculate excited ion states having different atomic and quantum numbers. A similar method can be used for calculating the energies of ion states with the number of electrons exceeding three.

Energy deposition in a Pb spallation target irradiated by high energetic protons was calculated by PHITS2.52 code. The validation of the energy deposition and neutron production calculated by PHITS code was performed. Results show good agreements between the simulation results and the experimental data. Detailed comparison shows that for the total energy deposition, PHITS simulation result was about 15% overestimation than that of the experimental data. For the energy deposition along the length of the Pb target, the discrepancy mainly presented at the front part of the Pb target. Calculation indicates that most of the energy deposition comes from the ionizations of the primary protons and the produced secondary particles. With the event generator mode of PHITS, the deposit energy distribution for the particles and the light nulclei is presented for the first time. It indicates that the primary protons with energy more than 100 MeV are the most contributors to the total energy deposition. The energy depositions peaking at 10 MeV and 0.1 MeV, are mainly caused by the electrons, pions, d, t, 3He and also α particles during the cascade process and the evaporation process, respectively. The energy deposition density caused by different proton beam profiles are also calculated and compared. Such calculation and analyses are much helpful for better understanding the physical mechanism of energy deposition in the spallation target, and greatly useful for the thermal hydraulic design of the spallation target.

We describe and present experimental results of the optical calculation of potential field maps suitable for mobile robot navigation. The optical computation employs two write modes of a microchannel spatial light modulator (MSLM). In one mode, written patterns expand spatially, and this characteristic is used to create an extended two dimensional function representing the influence of the goal in a robot's workspace. Distinct obstacle patterns are written in a second, non-expanding, mode. A model of the mechanisms determining MSLM write mode characteristics is developed and used to derive the optical calculation time for full potential field maps. Field calculations at a few hertz are possible with current technology, and calculation time vs. map size scales favorably in comparison to digital electronic computation.

Schemes of increasing sophistication for obtaining free energies of binding have been developed over the years, where configurational sampling is used to include the all-important entropic contributions to the free energies. However, the quality of the results will also depend on the accuracy with which the intermolecular interactions are computed at each molecular configuration. In this context, the energy change associated with the rearrangement of electrons (electronic polarization and charge transfer) upon binding is a very important effect. Classical molecular mechanics force fields do not take this effect into account explicitly, and polarizable force fields and semiempirical quantum or hybrid quantum-classical (QM/MM) calculations are increasingly employed (at higher computational cost) to compute intermolecular interactions in free-energy schemes. In this work, we investigate the use of large-scale quantum mechanical calculations from first-principles as a way of fully taking into account electronic effects in free-energycalculations. We employ a one-step free-energy perturbation (FEP) scheme from a molecular mechanical (MM) potential to a quantum mechanical (QM) potential as a correction to thermodynamic integration calculations within the MM potential. We use this approach to calculate relative free energies of hydration of small aromatic molecules. Our quantum calculations are performed on multiple configurations from classical molecular dynamics simulations. The quantum energy of each configuration is obtained from density functional theory calculations with a near-complete psinc basis set on over 600 atoms using the ONETEP program.

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Energy gains calculations. 11.13 Section 11.13 Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION, DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY REGULATIONS UNDER THE FEDERAL POWER ACT ANNUAL CHARGES UNDER PART I OF...

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Energy gains calculations. 11.13 Section 11.13 Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION, DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY REGULATIONS UNDER THE FEDERAL POWER ACT ANNUAL CHARGES UNDER PART I OF...

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Energy gains calculations. 11.13 Section 11.13 Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION, DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY REGULATIONS UNDER THE FEDERAL POWER ACT ANNUAL CHARGES UNDER PART I OF...

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Energy gains calculations. 11.13 Section 11.13 Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION, DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY REGULATIONS UNDER THE FEDERAL POWER ACT ANNUAL CHARGES UNDER PART I OF...

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Energy gains calculations. 11.13 Section 11.13 Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION, DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY REGULATIONS UNDER THE FEDERAL POWER ACT ANNUAL CHARGES UNDER PART I OF...

Diabatization of potentialenergy surfaces is a technique that enables convenient molecular dynamics simulations of electronically nonadiabatic processes, but diabatization itself is nonunique and can be inconvenient; the best methods to achieve diabatization are still under study. Here, we present the diabatization of two electronic states of thioanisole in the S-CH3 bond stretching and C-C-S-C torsion two-dimensional nuclear coordinate space containing a conical intersection. We use two systematic methods: the (orbital-dependent) 4-fold way and the (orbital-free) Boys localization diabatization method. These very different methods yield strikingly similar diabatic potentialenergy surfaces that cross at geometries where the adiabatic surfaces are well separated and do not exhibit avoided crossings, and the contours of the diabatic gap and diabatic coupling are similar for the two methods. The validity of the diabatization is supported by comparing the nonadiabatic couplings calculated from the diabatic matrix elements to those calculated by direct differentiation of the adiabatic states.

Free energycalculations based on molecular dynamics simulations show considerable promise for applications ranging from drug discovery to prediction of physical properties and structure-function studies. But these calculations are still difficult and tedious to analyze, and best practices for analysis are not well defined or propagated. Essentially, each group analyzing these calculations needs to decide how to conduct the analysis and, usually, develop its own analysis tools. Here, we review and recommend best practices for analysis yielding reliable free energies from molecular simulations. Additionally, we provide a Python tool, http://arxiv.org/abs/alchemical-analysis.py, freely available on GitHub as part of the pymbar package (located at http://github.com/choderalab/pymbar), that implements the analysis practices reviewed here for several reference simulation packages, which can be adapted to handle data from other packages. Both this review and the tool covers analysis of alchemical calculations generally, including free energy estimates via both thermodynamic integration and free energy perturbation-based estimators. Our Python tool also handles output from multiple types of free energycalculations, including expanded ensemble and Hamiltonian replica exchange, as well as standard fixed ensemble calculations. We also survey a range of statistical and graphical ways of assessing the quality of the data and free energy estimates, and provide prototypes of these in our tool. We hope this tool and discussion will serve as a foundation for more standardization of and agreement on best practices for analysis of free energycalculations.

Free energycalculations based on molecular dynamics simulations show considerable promise for applications ranging from drug discovery to prediction of physical properties and structure-function studies. But these calculations are still difficult and tedious to analyze, and best practices for analysis are not well defined or propagated. Essentially, each group analyzing these calculations needs to decide how to conduct the analysis and, usually, develop its own analysis tools. Here, we review and recommend best practices for analysis yielding reliable free energies from molecular simulations. Additionally, we provide a Python tool, alchemical-analysis.py, freely available on GitHub as part of the pymbar package (located at http://github.com/choderalab/pymbar), that implements the analysis practices reviewed here for several reference simulation packages, which can be adapted to handle data from other packages. Both this review and the tool covers analysis of alchemical calculations generally, including free energy estimates via both thermodynamic integration and free energy perturbation-based estimators. Our Python tool also handles output from multiple types of free energycalculations, including expanded ensemble and Hamiltonian replica exchange, as well as standard fixed ensemble calculations. We also survey a range of statistical and graphical ways of assessing the quality of the data and free energy estimates, and provide prototypes of these in our tool. We hope this tool and discussion will serve as a foundation for more standardization of and agreement on best practices for analysis of free energycalculations.

Free energycalculations based on molecular dynamics (MD) simulations show considerable promise for applications ranging from drug discovery to prediction of physical properties and structure-function studies. But these calculations are still difficult and tedious to analyze, and best practices for analysis are not well defined or propagated. Essentially, each group analyzing these calculations needs to decide how to conduct the analysis and, usually, develop its own analysis tools. Here, we review and recommend best practices for analysis yielding reliable free energies from molecular simulations. Additionally, we provide a Python tool, alchemical–analysis.py, freely available on GitHub at https://github.com/choderalab/pymbar–examples, that implements the analysis practices reviewed here for several reference simulation packages, which can be adapted to handle data from other packages. Both this review and the tool covers analysis of alchemical calculations generally, including free energy estimates via both thermodynamic integration and free energy perturbation-based estimators. Our Python tool also handles output from multiple types of free energycalculations, including expanded ensemble and Hamiltonian replica exchange, as well as standard fixed ensemble calculations. We also survey a range of statistical and graphical ways of assessing the quality of the data and free energy estimates, and provide prototypes of these in our tool. We hope these tools and discussion will serve as a foundation for more standardization of and agreement on best practices for analysis of free energycalculations. PMID:25808134

The calculation of chemical potential has traditionally been a challenge in atomistic simulations. One of the most used approaches is Widom's insertion method in which the chemical potential is calculated by periodically attempting to insert an extra particle in the system. In dense systems this method fails since the insertion probability is very low. In this paper we show that in a homogeneous fluid the insertion probability can be increased using metadynamics. We test our method on a supercooled high density binary Lennard-Jones fluid. We find that we can obtain efficiently converged results even when Widom's method fails.

In the course of designing inlets, particularly for VTOL and STOL propulsion systems, a calculational procedure utilizing three computer programs evolved. The chief program is the Douglas axisymmetric potential flow program called EOD which calculates the incompressible potential flow about arbitrary axisymmetric bodies. The other two programs, original with Lewis, are called SCIRCL AND COMBYN. Program SCIRCL generates input for EOD from various specified analytic shapes for the inlet components. Program COMBYN takes basic solutions output by EOD and combines them into solutions of interest, and applies a compressibility correction.

Ground source geothermal energy enables one to tap into the earth's stored renewable energy for heating and cooling facilities. Proper application of ground-source geothermal technology can have a dramatic impact on the efficiency and financial performance of building energy utilization (30%+). At the same time, using this alternative energy…

Ab initio calculations employing large basis sets are performed to determine an accurate potentialenergy surface for H-H2 interactions for a broad range of separation distances. At large distances, the spherically averaged potential determined from the calculatedenergies agrees well with the corresponding results determined from dispersion coefficients; the van der Waals well depth is predicted to be 75 +/- (mu)E(sub h). Large basis sets have also been applied to reexamine the accuracy of theoretical repulsive potentialenergy surfaces. Multipolar expansions of the computed H-H2 potentialenergy surface are reported for four internuclear separation distances (1.2, 1.401, 1.449, and 1.7a(sub 0) of the hydrogen molecule. The differential elastic scattering cross section calculated from the present results is compared with the measurements from a crossed beam experiment.

infrastructure and the power grid, as well as due to the harsh winter climate. However, even in easily accessible regions, wind energypotential in Iceland, as measured by annual average power density, is among the highest in Western Europe. Based on these results, 14 test sites were selected for more detailed analyses using the Wind Atlas Analysis and Application Program (WAsP). These calculations show that a modest wind farm of ten medium size turbines would produce more energy throughout the year than a small hydro power plant, making wind energy a viable additional option.

A complex absorbing potential method is implemented for calculation of collision-induced spectra. The scheme provides a way to avoid the integration of the Schroedinger equation to very large separations of the collisional pair. The method is tested by reproducing a previously computed absorption spectrum for H-He at two different temperatures.

Energy restriction (ER; also known as caloric restriction) is the only nutritional intervention that has repeatedly been shown to increase lifespan in model organisms and may delay ageing in humans. In the present review we discuss current scientific literature on ER and its molecular, metabolic and hormonal effects. Moreover, criteria for the classification of substances that might induce positive ER-like changes without having to reduce energy intake are summarised. Additionally, the putative ER mimetics (ERM) 2-deoxy-d-glucose, metformin, rapamycin, resveratrol, spermidine and lipoic acid and their suggested molecular targets are discussed. While there are reports on these ERM candidates that describe lifespan extension in model organisms, data on longevity-inducing effects in higher organisms such as mice remain controversial or are missing. Furthermore, some of these candidates produce detrimental side effects such as immunosuppression or lactic acidosis, or have not been tested for safety in long-term studies. Up to now, there are no known ERM that could be recommended without limitations for use in humans.

The article deals with application potential of clean alternative renewable energy sources. By means of system analysis the forecast for consumption of electrical energy in Tomsk Oblast as well as main energy sources of existing energy system have been studied up to 2018. Engineering potential of renewable and alternative energy sources is evaluated. Besides, ranking in the order of their efficiency descending is performed. It is concluded that Tomsk Oblast has high potential of alternative and renewable energy sources, among which the most promising development perspective is implementation of gasification stations to save fuel consumed by diesel power stations as well as building wind-power plants.

The Kharkov potential is a recent field theoretical model of nucleon-nucleon (NN) interaction that has been built up in the framework of the instant form of relativistic dynamics starting with the total Hamiltonian of interacting meson and nucleon fields and using the method of unitary clothing transformations. The latter connect the representation of "bare" particles and the representation of "clothed" particles, i.e., the particles with physical properties. Unlike many available NN potentials each of which is the kernel of the corresponding nonrelativistic Lippmann-Schwinger (LS) equation this potential being dependent in momentum space on the Feynman-like propagators and covariant cutoff factors at the meson-nucleon vertices is the kernel of relativistic integral equations for the NN bound and scattering states. Therefore we do not need to invent any transform of a given nonrelativistic potential to its relativistic counterpart. As a feasible study, we have started with the so-called 5ch Faddeev calculation for three-nucleon bound state (triton) and obtained a reasonable value of its binding energy (-7.42 MeV).

Segregation of silver at copper grain boundaries was investigated using theoretical calculations. Empirical potentials for copper-silver alloys were generated to systematically investigate the segregation. The segregation energies of the [001]-axis symmetric tilt Σ5 (210) and Σ25 (430) grain boundaries were calculated, and the most stable segregation sites for silver at these copper grain boundaries were determined. The generated empirical potential was validated by comparing it with that obtained from the first principles calculation. The segregation of silver at copper grain boundaries strongly depends on the open space at the segregation site.

The potentialenergy surface for NH + NO was characterized using complete active space self-consistent field (CASSCF) gradient calculation to determine the stationary point geometries and frequencies followed by CASSCF/internally contracted configuration interaction calculations to refine the energetics. The present results are in qualitative accord with the BAC-MP4 calculations, but there are differences as large as 8 kcal/mol in the detailed energetics.

The ground state potentialenergy surface for the dissociation of formaldehyde (H2CO to H2 and CO) is calculated with the ab initio MCSCF method with an extended (4-31G) basis set. The location, barrier height, and force constants of the transition state are determined, and the normal coordinate analysis is carried out. The calculated barrier height is 4.5 eV. Based on the calculated quantities, the detailed mechanism of the photochemical dissociation is discussed.

In this pure theoretical study, a hitherto unexplored equation based on Shannon radii of the ions forming that crystal and chemical hardness of any crystal to calculate the lattice energies of simple inorganic ionic crystals has been presented. To prove the credibility of this equation, the results of the equation have been compared with experimental outcome obtained from Born-Fajans-Haber- cycle which is fundamentally enthalpy-based thermochemical cycle and prevalent theoretical approaches proposed for the calculation of lattice energies of ionic compounds. The results obtained and the comparisons made have demonstrated that the new equation is more useful compared to other theoretical approaches and allows to exceptionally accurate calculation of lattice energies of inorganic ionic crystals without doing any complex calculations.

The standard framework for calculating the absolute binding free energy of a macromolecular association reaction A + B → AB with an association constant KAB is to equate chemical potentials of the species on the left- and right-hand sides of this reaction and evaluate the chemical potentials from theory. This theory involves (usually hidden) assumptions about what constitutes the bound species, AB, and where the contribution of the solvent appears. We present here an alternative derivation that can be traced back to Bjerrum, in which the expectation value of KAB is obtained directly through the statistical mechanical method of evaluating its ensemble (Boltzmann-weighted) average. The generalized Bjerrum approach more clearly delineates: (i) the different contributions to binding; (ii) the origin of the much-discussed and somewhat controversial association entropy term; and (iii) where the solvent contribution appears. This approach also allows approximations required for practical evaluation of the binding constant in complex macromolecular systems, to be introduced in a well defined way. We provide an example, with application to test cases that illustrate a range of binding behavior. PMID:12149474

A new four-dimensional intermolecular potentialenergy surface for CS(2) dimer is obtained by ab initio calculation of the interaction energies for a range of configurations and center-of-mass separation distances for the first time. The calculations were performed using the supermolecular approach at the Møller-Plesset second-order perturbation (MP2) level of theory with the augmented correlation consistent basis sets (aug-cc-pVxZ, x = D, T) and corrected for the basis-set superposition error using the full counterpoise correction method. A two-point extrapolation method was used to extrapolate the calculatedenergy points to the complete basis set limit. The effect of using the higher levels of theory, quadratic configuration interaction containing single, double, and perturbative triple excitations QCISD(T) and coupled cluster singles, doubles and perturbative triples excitations CCSD(T), on the shape of potentialenergy surface was investigated. It is shown that the MP2 level of theory apparently performs extremely poorly for describing the intermolecular potentialenergy surface, overestimating the total energy by a factor of nearly 1.73 in comparison with the QCISD(T) and CCSD(T) values. The value of isotropic dipole-dipole dispersion coefficient (C(6) ) of CS(2) fluid was obtained from the extrapolated MP2 potentialenergy surface. The MP2 extrapolated energy points were fitted to well-known analytical potential functions using two different methods to represent the potentialenergy surface analytically. The most stable configuration of the dimer was determined at R = 6.23 au, α = 90°, β = 90°, and γ = 90°, with a well depth of 3.980 kcal mol(-1) at the MP2 level of theory. Finally, the calculated second virial coefficients were compared with experimental values to test the quality of the presented potentialenergy surface.

The aim of the presentation is to show the suitability of using numerical model wind speed forecasts for the wind power industry applications in Poland. In accordance with the guidelines of the European Union, the consumption of wind energy in Poland is rapidly increasing. According to the report of Energy Regulatory Office from 30 March 2013, the installed capacity of wind power in Poland was 2807MW from 765 wind power stations. Wind energy is strongly dependent on the meteorological conditions. Based on the climatological wind speed data, potentialenergy zones within the area of Poland have been developed (H. Lorenc). They are the first criterion for assessing the location of the wind farm. However, for exact monitoring of a given wind farm location the prognostic data from numerical model forecasts are necessary. For the practical interpretation and further post-processing, the verification of the model data is very important. Polish Institute Meteorology and Water Management - National Research Institute (IMWM-NRI) runs an operational model COSMO (Consortium for Small-scale Modelling, version 4.8) using two nested domains at horizontal resolutions of 7 km and 2.8 km. The model produces 36 hour and 78 hour forecasts from 00 UTC, for 2.8 km and 7 km domain resolutions respectively. Numerical forecasts were compared with the observation of 60 SYNOP and 3 TEMP stations in Poland, using VERSUS2 (Unified System Verification Survey 2) and R package. For every zone the set of statistical indices (ME, MAE, RMSE) was calculated. Forecast errors for aerological profiles are shown for Polish TEMP stations at Wrocław, Legionowo and Łeba. The current studies are connected with a topic of the COST ES1002 WIRE-Weather Intelligence for Renewable Energies.

The Guide for Conducting Energy Efficiency Potential Studies is provided to assist state officials, regulators, legislators, and others in implementing the recommendations of the National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency.

Representation of multidimensional global potentialenergy surfaces suitable for spectral and dynamical calculations from high-level ab initio calculations remains a challenge. Here, we present a detailed study on constructing potentialenergy surfaces using a machine learning method, namely, Gaussian process regression. Tests for the (3)A″ state of SH2, which facilitates the SH + H ↔ S((3)P) + H2 abstraction reaction and the SH + H' ↔ SH' + H exchange reaction, suggest that the Gaussian process is capable of providing a reasonable potentialenergy surface with a small number (∼1 × 10(2)) of ab initio points, but it needs substantially more points (∼1 × 10(3)) to converge reaction probabilities. The implications of these observations for construction of potentialenergy surfaces are discussed.

In order to test the availabilities of the theoretical screening lengths with the shell effect and the new local electronic-energy-loss model proposed by Yamamura et al., the sputtering yields due to various ion impacts on monatomic materials were calculated with the ACAT code. It is found that the sputtering yields calculated by the Molière potential with the present theoretical screening lengths are in reasonable good agreement with experimental data and Yamamura's empirical sputtering formula without free parameters.

The optimized effective potential (OEP) method allows orbital-dependent functionals to be used in density functional theory (DFT), which, in particular, allows exact exchange formulations of the exchange energy to be used in DFT calculations. Because the exact exchange is inherently self-interaction correcting, the resulting OEP calculations have been found to yield superior band-gaps for condensed-phase systems. Here we apply these methods to the isolated atoms He and Be, and compare to high quality experiments and calculations to demonstrate that the orbital energies accurately reproduce the excited state spectrum for these species. These results suggest that coupling the exchange-only OEP calculations with proper (orbital-dependent or other) correlation functions might allow quantitative accuracy from DFT calculations.

High-throughput design of new materials with desired electronic properties, based on screening of large collections of crystal structures organized in the from of libraries or databases require fast, widely applicable, consistent and unsupervised methods to calculate the property of interest. In this work we present an approach for the calculation of surface energies of two-dimensional periodic crystal lattices which meets all these requirements. For materials slabs which are terminated with two identical surfaces, the task of calculating the surface energy is trivial. More problematic are the cases where both terminating surfaces are different, as there is no single established method allowing for equal treatment of a wide range of surface morphologies and orientations. Our proposed approach addresses this problem. It relies on appropriately chosen capping atoms, whose bonding energy contributions are used to approximate the total energy of the surface. The choice of the capping atoms is governed by a set of simple guidelines that are applicable for surfaces with different terminations. We present the results for different semiconductor materials and show that our approach leads to surface energies with errors that are below 10%, and that are as low as 2% in many cases. We show that hydrogen is not always the best choice for a capping atom if accurate surface energies are the target of the calculations.

The Directional Relativistic Spectrum Simulator (DRESS) code can perform Monte-Carlo calculations of reaction product spectra from arbitrary reactant distributions, using fully relativistic kinematics. The code is set up to calculateenergy spectra from neutrons and alpha particles produced in the D(d, n)3He and T(d, n)4He fusion reactions, but any two-body reaction can be simulated by including the corresponding cross section. The code has been thoroughly tested. The kinematics calculations have been benchmarked against the kinematics module of the ROOT Data Analysis Framework. Calculated neutron energy spectra have been validated against tabulated fusion reactivities and against an exact analytical expression for the thermonuclear fusion neutron spectrum, with good agreement. The DRESS code will be used as the core of a detailed synthetic diagnostic framework for neutron measurements at the JET and MAST tokamaks.

An outline of Von Karman's method of computing the potential flow of airships in yaw by means of partially constant dipolar superposition on the axis of the body is followed by several considerations for beginning and end of the superposition. Then this method is improved by postulating a continuous, in part linearly variable dipolar superposition on the axis. The second main part of the report brings the calculation of the potential flow by means of sources and sinks, arranged on the surface of the airship body. The integral equation which must satisfy this surface superposition is posed, and the core reduced to functions developed from whole elliptical normal integrals. The functions are shown diagrammatically. The integration is resolvable by iteration. The consequence of the method is good. The formulas for computing the velocity on the surface and of the potential for any point conclude the report.

Methane produced by refuse decomposition in a sanitary landfill can be recovered for commercial use. Landfill methane is currently under-utilized, with commercial recovery at only a small percentage of US landfills. New federal regulations mandating control of landfill gas migration and atmospheric emissions are providing impetus to methane recovery schemes as a means of recovering costs for increased environmental control. The benefits of landfill methane recovery include utilization of an inexpensive renewable energy resource, removal of explosive gas mixtures from the subsurface, and mitigation of observed historic increases in atmospheric methane. Increased commercial interest in landfill methane recovery is dependent on the final form of Clean Air Act amendments pertaining to gaseous emissions from landfills; market shifts in natural gas prices; financial incentives for development of renewable energy resources; and support for applied research and development to develop techniques for increased control of the gas generation process in situ. This paper will discuss the controls on methane generation in landfills. In addition, it will address how landfill regulations affect landfill design and site management practices which, in turn, influence decomposition rates. Finally, future trends in landfilling, and their relationship to gas production, will be examined. 19 refs., 2 figs., 3 tabs.

The turning points of the potentialenergy curves for the ground states of NH and PH molecules were calculated using the approach of Rydberg-Klein-Rees modified by Vanderslice et al. (1960), together with the energy values obtained from the Lippincott potential function. These values were compared with those obtained by Jarmain (1960). The values of the dissociation energies of the NH and PH were estimated to be about 3.45 and 3.16, respectively.

Ab initio calculations employing large basis sets are performed to determine an accurate potentialenergy surface for H-H2 interactions for a broad range of separation distances. At large distances, the spherically averaged potential determined from the calculatedenergies agrees well with the corresponding results determined from dispersion coefficients; the van der Waals well depth is predicted to be 75 +/- 3 micro E(h). Large basis sets have also been applied to reexamine the accuracy of theoretical repulsive potentialenergy surfaces (25-70 kcal/mol above the H-H2 asymptote) at small interatomic separations; the Boothroyd, Keogh, Martin, and Peterson (BKMP) potentialenergy surface is found to agree with results of the present calculations within the expected uncertainty (+/- 1 kcal/mol) of the fit. Multipolar expansions of the computed H-H2 potentialenergy surface are reported for four internuclear separation distances (1.2, 1.401, 1.449, and 1.7a(0)) of the hydrogen molecule. The differential elastic scattering cross section calculated from the present results is compared with the measurements from a crossed beam experiment.

An algebraic perturbation theory is presented for efficient calculations of localized states and hence of exchange energies, which are the differences between low-lying states of the valence electron of a molecule, formed by the collision of an ion Y{sup +} with an atom X. For the case of a homonuclear molecule these are the gerade and ungerade states and the exchange energy is an exponentially decreasing function of the internuclear distance. For such homonuclear systems the theory is used in conjunction with the Herring-Holstein technique to give accurate exchange energies for a range of intermolecular separations R. Since the perturbation parameter is essentially 1/R, this method is suitable for large R. In particular, exchange energies are calculated for X{sub 2}{sup +} systems, where X is H, Li, Na, K, Rb, or Cs.

The energy spectrum of a H{sup +} beam generated within the HERMES III accelerator is calculated from dosimetry data to refine future experiments. Multiple layers of radiochromic film are exposed to the beam. A graphic user interface was written in MATLAB to align the film images and calculate the beam's dose depth profile. Singular value regularization is used to stabilize the unfolding and provide the H{sup +} beam's energy spectrum. The beam was found to have major contributions from 1 MeV and 8.5 MeV protons. The HERMES III accelerator is typically used as a pulsed photon source to experimentally obtain photon impulse response of systems due to high energy photons. A series of experiments were performed to explore the use of Hermes III to generate an intense pulsed proton beam. Knowing the beam energy spectrum allows for greater precision in experiment predictions and beam model verification.

Approaches for directly calculating the activation energy for a chemical reaction from a simulation at a single temperature are explored with applications to both classical and quantum systems. The activation energy is obtained from a time correlation function that can be evaluated from the same molecular dynamics trajectories or quantum dynamics used to evaluate the rate constant itself and thus requires essentially no extra computational work.

Dissociation energy of some alkali halides have been calculated by using different interaction potential function such as Born-Mayer, Varshani-Shukla and L5 potential model. The theoretical calculation is compared with experimental values. The Result shows that the values of dissociation energy as calculated by using different potential models have an equal amount of deviation with experimental values. The above said deviation with experimental values can be explained by consideration of rotational-vibrational coupling between the constituents of molecules in the limelight of molecular spectroscopy. Findings of present work suggest that the existing potential model need to be reviewed in view of the correction factors solely depending on the rotational, vibrational and electronic coupling between the constituents of molecules.

Computational techniques see widespread use in pharmaceutical drug discovery, but typically prove unreliable in predicting trends in protein-ligand binding. Alchemical free energycalculations seek to change that by providing rigorous binding free energies from molecular simulations. Given adequate sampling and an accurate enough force field, these techniques yield accurate free energy estimates. Recent innovations in alchemical techniques have sparked a resurgence of interest in these calculations. Still, many obstacles stand in the way of their routine application in a drug discovery context, including the one we focus on here, sampling. Sampling of binding modes poses a particular challenge as binding modes are often separated by large energy barriers, leading to slow transitions. Binding modes are difficult to predict, and in some cases multiple binding modes may contribute to binding. In view of these hurdles, we present a framework for dealing carefully with uncertainty in binding mode or conformation in the context of free energycalculations. With careful sampling, free energy techniques show considerable promise for aiding drug discovery.

We investigated the optical properties of undoped zinc oxide thin films as the n-type semiconductor; the thin films were deposited at different precursor molarities by ultrasonic spray and spray pyrolysis techniques. The thin films were deposited at different substrate temperatures ranging between 200 and 500 °C. In this paper, we present a new approach to control the optical gap energy of ZnO thin films by concentration of the ZnO solution and substrate temperatures from experimental data, which were published in international journals. The model proposed to calculate the band gap energy with the Urbach energy was investigated. The relation between the experimental data and theoretical calculation suggests that the band gap energies are predominantly estimated by the Urbach energies, film transparency, and concentration of the ZnO solution and substrate temperatures. The measurements by these proposal models are in qualitative agreements with the experimental data; the correlation coefficient values were varied in the range 0.96-0.99999, indicating high quality representation of data based on Equation (2), so that the relative errors of all calculation are smaller than 4%. Thus, one can suppose that the undoped ZnO thin films are chemically purer and have many fewer defects and less disorder owing to an almost complete chemical decomposition and contained higher optical band gap energy.

Reviews types of geothermal energy sources in the western states, including hot brine systems and dry steam systems. Conversion to electrical energy is a major potential use of geothermal energy, although it creates environmental disruptions such as noise, corrosion, and scaling of equipment. (AV)

The effect of composition on the antiphase boundary (APB) energy of Ni-based L 12-ordered alloys is investigated by ab initio calculations employing the coherent potential approximation. The calculated APB energies for the {111} and {001} planes reproduce experimental values of the APB energy. The APB energies for the nonstoichiometric γ' phase increase with Al concentration and are in line with the experiment. The magnitude of the alloying effect on the APB energy correlates with the variation of the ordering energy of the alloy according to the alloying element's position in the 3 d row. The elements from the left side of the 3 d row increase the APB energy of the Ni-based L 12-ordered alloys, while the elements from the right side slightly affect it except Ni. The way to predict the effect of an addition on the {111} APB energy in a multicomponent alloy is discussed.

We have performed shell-model calculations for the N=126 isotones {sup 210}Po, {sup 211}At, and {sup 212}Rn using a realistic effective interaction derived from the Bonn-A nucleon-nucleon potential by means of a G-matrix folded-diagram method. The calculated binding energies, energy spectra, and electromagnetic properties show remarkably good agreement with the experimental data. The results of this paper complement those of our previous study on neutron hole Pb isotopes, confirming that realistic effective interactions are now able to reproduce with quantitative accuracy the spectroscopic properties of complex nuclei. (c) 1999 The American Physical Society.

The optimization of the geometry and calculation of zero-point energies are carried out at the B3LYP level of theory. The bond energies are determined at this level, as well as at the CCSD(T) level using very large basis sets. The successive OH bond energies to the first row transition metal cations are reported. For most systems there has been an experimental determination of the first OH. In general, the CCSD(T) values are in good agreement with experiment. The bonding changes from mostly covalent for the early metals to mostly electrostatic for the late transition metal systems.

The utilization of direct solar gains in buildings can be affected by operating profiles, such as schedules for internal gains, thermostat controls, and ventilation rates. Building energy analysis methods use various assumptions about these profiles. The effects of typical internal gain assumptions in energycalculations. Heating and cooling loads from simulations using the Department of Energy 2.1 computer code are compared for various internal-gain inputs: typical hourly profiles, constant average profiles, and zero gain profiles. Prototype single-family-detached and multi-family-attached residential units are studied with various levels of insulation and infiltration. Small detached commercial buildings and attached zones in large commercial buildings are studied with various levels of internal gains. The results indicate that calculations of annual heating and cooling loads are sensitive to internal gains, but in most cases are relatively insensitive to hourly variations in internal gains.

A model Hamiltonian is used to calculatepotential-energy surfaces for He and Ne on the (110) faces of Ni, Cu, Pd, and Ag. The calculations are nonperturbative, self-consistent, and contain no parameters which are fittable with respect to the gas-solid interaction. Static image-force effects are included. The theory represents the first quantum-mechanical approach to rare-gas-transition-metal potentials which includes the interaction of the rare-gas orbitals with the d electrons in a consistent way. Corrugation is found to be approximately proportional to the d-electron charge density. The sp band is represented by a Sommerfeld model with hybridization gap, which does not contribute to the corrugation. Part of the potential arises through the hybridization of the rare-gas orbitals with the unoccupied metal states. This interference energy is roughly a factor of 2 larger for neon than for helium, leading to larger corrugations of the neon potentials as compared with the helium potentials. This is in agreement with recent experiments, but in contrast to earlier theoretical predictions. The theoretically calculated corrugations and well depths compare reasonably to the experimental data where available. The computed values of corrugation for He increase in the order Ni, Cu, Ag, and Pd. This agrees with experiments where soft potentials have been fitted to the scattering data, although the predicted He/Ni(110) corrugation is overly large by more than a factor of 2. With increasing energy, the He corrugation increases slightly in the calculations. The dependence is nearly constant for Ni and strongest for Pd. For Ne/Ni(110) and Ne/Pd(110) corrugation decreases with energy. Image-force effects are found to be important for the corrugation and softness of the neon potentials.

An approach to calculate microscopic optical potential with the real part obtained by a folding procedure and with the imaginary part inherent in the high-energy approximation is applied to study the {sup 8}He+p elastic-scattering data at energies of tens of MeV/nucleon. The neutron and proton density distributions obtained in different models for {sup 8}He are used in the calculations of the differential cross sections. The role of the spin-orbit potential is studied. Comparison of the calculations with the available experimental data on the elastic-scattering differential cross sections at beam energies of 15.7, 26.25, 32, 66, and 73 MeV/nucleon is performed. The problem of the ambiguities of the depths of each component of the optical potential is considered by means of the imposed physical criterion related to the known behavior of the volume integrals as functions of the incident energy. It is shown also that the role of the surface absorption is rather important, in particular for the lowest incident energies (e.g., 15.7 and 26.25 MeV/nucleon)

The infrared bar-spectrum of a single carbon dioxide molecule encapsulated in nano-cage clathrate hydrate is determined using the LD (Lakhlifi-Dahoo) extended site inclusion model successfully applied to analyze the spectra of CO2 isotopologues isolated in rare gas matrices. Trapping is energetically more favorable in clathrate structure of type sI than sII. CO2 exhibits hindered orientational motions (librational motions) around its equilibrium configurations in the small and large nano-cages. The orientation transitions are weak, and the spectra are purely vibrational. In the static field inside the cage, the doubly degenerate bending mode ν2 is blue shifted and split. From the scheme of the calculatedenergy levels for the different degrees of freedom, which is comparable to that of CO2 in rare gas matrices, it is conjectured that infrared excited CO2 will rather relax radiatively. Non-radiative channels can be analyzed by binary collision model.

The use of liposomes in several fields of biotechnology, as well as in pharmaceutical and food sciences is continuously increasing. Liposomes can be used as carriers for drugs and other active molecules. Among other characteristics, one of the main features relevant to their target applications is the liposome size. The size of liposomes, which is determined during the production process, decreases due to the addition of energy. The energy is used to break the lipid bilayer into smaller pieces, then these pieces close themselves in spherical structures. In this work, the mechanisms of rupture of the lipid bilayer and the formation of spheres were modelled, accounting for how the energy, supplied by ultrasonic radiation, is stored within the layers, as the elastic energy due to the curvature and as the tension energy due to the edge, and to account for the kinetics of the bending phenomenon. An algorithm to solve the model equations was designed and the relative calculation code was written. A dedicated preparation protocol, which involves active periods during which the energy is supplied and passive periods during which the energy supply is set to zero, was defined and applied. The model predictions compare well with the experimental results, by using the energy supply rate and the time constant as fitting parameters. Working with liposomes of different sizes as the starting point of the experiments, the key parameter is the ratio between the energy supply rate and the initial surface area.

The heterocyclic amine 2-amino-3-methylimidazo (4, 5-f) quinoline (IQ) is one of a number of carcinogens found in barbecued meat and fish. It induces tumors in mammals and is probably involved in human carcinogenesis, because of great exposure to such food carcinogens. IQ is biochemically activated to a derivative which reacts with DNA to form a covalent adduct. This adduct may deform the DNA and consequently cause a mutation. which may initiate carcinogenesis. To understand this cancer initiating event, it is necessary to obtain atomic resolution structures of the damaged DNA. No such structures are available experimentally due to synthesis difficulties. Therefore, we employ extensive molecular mechanics and dynamics calculations for this purpose. The major IQ-DNA adduct in the specific DNA sequence d(5'G1G2C G3CCA3') - d(5'TGGCGCC3') with IQ modified at G3 is studied. The d(5'G1G2C G3CC3') sequence has recently been shown to be a hot-spot for mutations when IQ modification is at G3. Although this sequence is prone to -2 deletions via a ``slippage mechanism'' even when unmodified, a key question is why IQ increases the mutation frequency of the unmodified DNA by about 104 fold. Is there a structural feature imposed by IQ that is responsible? The molecular mechanics and dynamics program AMBER for nucleic acids with the latest force field was chosen for this work. This force field has been demonstrated to reproduce well the B-DNA structure. However, some parameters, the partial charges, bond lengths and angles, dihedral parameters of the modified residue, are not available in the AMBER database. We parameterized the force field using high level ab initio quantum calculations. We created 800 starting conformations which uniformly sampled in combination at 18° intervals three torsion angles that govern the IQ-DNA orientations, and energy minimized them. The most important structures are abnormal; the IQ damaged guanine is rotated out of its standard B

Theoretical calculations for the binding energy between metalic ions and negative ions on a novel ternary ionic lattice is carried out for several solid solutions prepared with different concentrations and characterized recently (1). The ternary lattices that reach a good miscibility are: KCl(x)KBr(y)RbCl(z) in three different concentrations: (x=y=z=0.33), (x=0.5, y=0.25, z=0.25) and (x=0.33, y=0.07, z=0.60). The binding energy for these novel structures is calculated from the lattice constants obtained by X ray diffractometry analysis performed on the samples and the Vegard law (2). For the repulsive force exponent m, an average of the m values was considered. The energy values obtained by the Born´expression are compared with corresponding energy values from the lattice with more complex expressions, such as the Born Mayer, Born-Van der Walls. There is a good aggreement between all these calculations. (1)R. R. Mijangos, A. Cordero-Borboa, E. Alvarez, M. Cervantes, Physics Letters A 282 (2001) 195-200. (2) G. Vazquez-Polo, R. R. Mijangos et al. Revista Mexicana de Fisica, 47, Diciembre 2001. In Press.

We have performed ab initio calculations of twin, intrinsic, and extrinsic face-centered-cubic stacking faults for all the 3d, 4d, and 5d transition metals by means of a Green's-function technique, based on the linear-muffin-tin-orbitals method within the tight-binding and atomic-sphere approximations. The results are in excellent agreement with recent layer Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker Green's-function calculations where stacking-fault energies for Ni, Cu, Rh, Pd, Ag, Ir, and Au were found by means of the so-called force theorem. We find that the self-consistent fault energies for all the metals in the three transition series vary with atomic number essentially as the calculated structural energy differences between the face-centered-cubic and the hexagonal-close-packed phases. In addition we find that the simple relations between the different types of fault energies predicted by models based on the local atomic coordination are obeyed to a high degree of accuracy.

An energy balance model is used to determine diurnal surface energy balance components for three different sized high-latitude Canadian lakes in the Mackenzie River Basin (MRB) during the open water seasons of 2000, 2001, and 2002. Surface net radiation is derived from the component fluxes of the radiation balance. Turbulent heat fluxes are calculated using the aerodynamic method with input from local meteorological stations and experimentally derived drag coefficients. Lake heat storage, determined as a residual of the surface energy balance, is used together with measured water temperature profiles to calculate the daily mixing layer depth. The model uses readily available meteorological inputs for radiation calculations.Verification results for surface energy balance components show mean bias error (MBE) generally less than 5% of the mean measured daily fluxes and root mean square error (RMSE) less than 38%, which decreases to less than 16% for 10-day averaging periods. The model tends to overestimate net radiation by 7% and latent and sensible heat fluxes by about 4% and 1%, respectively, on average. Inferred slab layer depths indicate that the shallowest lake was isothermal while the deeper lakes showed temporal variations as expected.

In general, the classical limit is assumed in computer simulation calculations of free energy. This approximation, however, is not justifiable for a class of systems in which quantum contributions for the free energy cannot be neglected. The inclusion of quantum effects is important for the determination of reliable phase diagrams of these systems. In this work, we present a new methodology to compute the free energy of many-body quantum systems [1]. This methodology results from the combination of the path integral formulation of statistical mechanics and efficient non-equilibrium methods to estimate free energy, namely, the adiabatic switching and reversible scaling methods. A quantum Einstein crystal is used as a model to show the accuracy and reliability the methodology. This new method is applied to the calculation of solid-liquid coexistence properties of neon. Our findings indicate that quantum contributions to properties such as, melting point, latent heat of fusion, entropy of fusion, and slope of melting line can be up to 10% of the calculated values using the classical approximation. [1] R. M. Ramirez, C. P. Herrero, A. Antonelli, and E. R. Hernández, Journal of Chemical Physics 129, 064110 (2008)

A new technique for calculating a collisionless plasma along a field line is presented. The primary feature of the new model is that it can handle an arbitrary (including nonmonotonic) potentialenergy distribution. This was one of the limiting constraints on the existing models in this class, and these constraints are generalized for an arbitrary potentialenergy composition. The formulation for relating current density to the field-aligned potential as well as formulas for density, temperature and energy flux calculations are presented for several distribution functions, ranging from a bi-Lorentzian with a loss cone to an isotropic Maxwellian. A comparison of these results with previous models shows that the formulation reduces.to the earlier models under similar assumptions.

An overview is provided on the computation of free energy changes in solution using perturbation theory, overlap sampling, and related approximate methods. As a specific application, extensive results are provided for free energies of hydration of substituted benzenes using the OPLS-AA force field in explicit TIP4P water. For a similar amount of computer time, the double-wide sampling and overlap sampling methods yield very similar results in the free-energy perturbation calculations. With standard protocols, the average statistical uncertainty in computed differences in free energies of hydration is 0.1 – 0.2 kcal/mol. Application of the power-series expansion in the Peierls equation was also tested. Use of the first-order term is generally reliable, while inclusion of the slowly-convergent, second-order fluctuation term causes deterioration in the results for strongly hydrogen-bonded solutes. PMID:19936324

The main purpose of this study was the use of natural non-isoprenoid phenolic lipid of cashew nut shell liquid from Anacardium occidentale as lead material for generating new potentially candidates of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. Therefore, we studied the electronic structure of 15 molecules derivatives from the cardanol using the following groups: methyl, acetyl, N, N-dimethylcarbamoyl, N, N-dimethylamine, N, N-diethylamine, piperidine, pyrrolidine, and N-benzylamine. The calculations were performed at RHF level using 6-31G, 6-31G(d), 6-31+G(d) and 6-311G(d,p) basis functions. Among the proposed compounds we found that the structures with substitution by acetyl, N, N-dimethylcarbamoyl, N, N-dimethylamine, and pyrrolidine groups were better correlated to rivastigmine indicating possible activity.

The results of ANL's study of the energy and economic aspects of using district heating in the St. Paul Energy Park are summarized. The Energy Park is a 6 million ft/sup 2/ residential, commercial office, and light industrial complex to be built in the midway area of St. Paul, Minnesota. Space heating and cooling design loads for the park were calculated assuming that the ASHRAE's 90-75 energy-conserving construction standards would be used in constructing the park's buildings. Based in part on this assumption, ANL estimated the costs and energy use characteristics of six possible energy system options for supplying Energy Park's space heating, space cooling, and domestic hot water heating needs. The results indicate that in today's economy, a central heating and cooling plant with natural gas boilers and electrically driven centrifugal chillers with thermal storage has good potential for energy and economic savings and clearly merits further consideration.

As carbon based fossil fuels become increasingly scarce, renewable energy sources are coming to the forefront of policy discussions around the globe. As a result, the State of Hawaii has implemented aggressive goals to achieve energy independence by 2030. Renewable electricity generation using solar photovoltaic technologies plays an important role in these efforts. This study utilizes geographic information systems (GIS) and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data with statistical analysis to identify how much solar photovoltaic potential exists for residential rooftops in the town of Kailua Kona on Hawaii Island. This study helps to quantify the magnitude of possible solar photovoltaic (PV) potential for Solar World SW260 monocrystalline panels on residential rooftops within the study area. Three main areas were addressed in the execution of this research: (1) modeling solar radiation, (2) estimating available rooftop area, and (3) calculating PV potential from incoming solar radiation. High resolution LiDAR data and Esri's solar modeling tools and were utilized to calculate incoming solar radiation on a sample set of digitized rooftops. Photovoltaic potential for the sample set was then calculated with the equations developed by Suri et al. (2005). Sample set rooftops were analyzed using a statistical model to identify the correlation between rooftop area and lot size. Least squares multiple linear regression analysis was performed to identify the influence of slope, elevation, rooftop area, and lot size on the modeled PV potential values. The equations built from these statistical analyses of the sample set were applied to the entire study region to calculate total rooftop area and PV potential. The total study area statistical analysis findings estimate photovoltaic electric energy generation potential for rooftops is approximately 190,000,000 kWh annually. This is approximately 17 percent of the total electricity the utility provided to the entire island in

Results are presented for highly accurate ab initio variational calculation of the rotation-vibration energy levels of H2O2 in its electronic ground state. These results use a recently computed potentialenergy surface and the variational nuclear-motion programs WARV4, which uses an exact kinetic energy operator, and TROVE, which uses a numerical expansion for the kinetic energy. The TROVE calculations are performed for levels with high values of rotational excitation, J up to 35. The purely ab initio calculations of the rovibrational energy levels reproduce the observed levels with a standard deviation of about 1 cm(-1), similar to that of the J = 0 calculation, because the discrepancy between theory and experiment for rotational energies within a given vibrational state is substantially determined by the error in the vibrational band origin. Minor adjustments are made to the ab initio equilibrium geometry and to the height of the torsional barrier. Using these and correcting the band origins using the error in J = 0 states lowers the standard deviation of the observed-calculatedenergies to only 0.002 cm(-1) for levels up to J = 10 and 0.02 cm(-1) for all experimentally known energy levels, which extend up to J = 35.

One common objective of molecular simulations in chemistry and biology is to calculate the free energy difference between different states of the system of interest. Examples of problems that have such an objective are calculations of receptor-ligand or protein-drug interactions, associations of molecules in response to hydrophobic, and electrostatic interactions or partition of molecules between immiscible liquids. Another common objective is to describe evolution of the system towards a low energy (possibly the global minimum energy), 'native' state. Perhaps the best example of such a problem is folding of proteins or short RNA molecules. Both types of problems share the same difficulty. Often, different states of the system are separated by high energy barriers, which implies that transitions between these states are rare events. This, in turn, can greatly impede exploration of phase space. In some instances this can lead to 'quasi non-ergodicity', whereby a part of phase space is inaccessible on timescales of the simulation. A host of strategies has been developed to improve efficiency of sampling the phase space. For example, some Monte Carlo techniques involve large steps which move the system between low-energy regions in phase space without the need for sampling the configurations corresponding to energy barriers (J-walking). Most strategies, however, rely on modifying probabilities of sampling low and high-energy regions in phase space such that transitions between states of interest are encouraged. Perhaps the simplest implementation of this strategy is to increase the temperature of the system. This approach was successfully used to identify denaturation pathways in several proteins, but it is clearly not applicable to protein folding. It is also not a successful method for determining free energy differences. Finally, the approach is likely to fail for systems with co-existing phases, such as water-membrane systems, because it may lead to spontaneous

We apply first principles computational methods to study the surface energy and the surface stress of silver nanoparticles. The structures, energies and lattice contractions of spherical Ag nanoclusters are calculated in the framework of density functional theory combined with the generalized gradient approximation. Our calculations predict the surface energies of Ag nanoclusters to be in the range of 1-2 J/m^2. These values are close to the bulk surface energy of silver, but are significantly lower than the recently reported value of 7.2 J/m^2 derived from the Kelvin equation for free Ag nanoparticles. From the lattice contraction and the nearest neighbor interatomic distance, we estimate the surface stress of the silver nanoclusters to be in the the range of 1-1.45 N/m. This result suggests that a liquid droplet model can be employed to evaluate the surface energy and the surface stress of Ag nanoparticles. K. K. Nanda et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 106102 (2003).

The utilization of direct solar gains in buildings can be affected by operating profiles, such as schedules for internal gains, thermostat controls, and ventilation rates. Building energy analysis methods use various assumptions about these profiles. The effects of typical internal gain assumptions in energycalculations are described. Heating and cooling loads from simulations using the DOE 2.1 computer code are compared for various internal-gain inputs: typical hourly profiles, constant average profiles, and zero gain profiles. Prototype single-family-detached and multi-family-attached residential units are studied with various levels of insulation and infiltration. Small detached commercial buildings and attached zones in large commercial buildings are studied with various levels of internal gains. The results of this study indicate that calculations of annual heating and cooling loads are sensitive to internal gains, but in most cases are relatively insensitive to hourly variations in internal gains.

The utilization of direct solar gains in buildings can be affected by operating profiles, such as schedules for internal gains, thermostat controls, and ventilation rates. Building energy analysis methods use various assumptions about these profiles. The effects of typical internal gain assumptions in energycalculations are described. Heating and cooling loads from simulations using the DOE 2.1 computer code are compared for various internal gain inputs: typical hourly profiles, constant average profiles, and zero gain profiles. Prototype single-family-detached and multifamily-attached residential units are studied with various levels of insulation and infiltration. Small detached commercial buildings and attached zones in large commercial buildings are studied with various levels of internal gains. The results indicate that calculations of annual heating and cooling loads are sensitive to internal gains, but in most cases are relatively insensitive to hourly variations in internal gains.

Persistent and significant curtailment has cast concern over the prospects of wind power in China. A comprehensive assessment of the production of energy from wind has identified grid-integrated wind generation potential at 11.9-14% of China's projected energy demand by 2030.

Binding selectivity is a requirement for the development of a safe drug, and it is a critical property for chemical probes used in preclinical target validation. Engineering selectivity adds considerable complexity to the rational design of new drugs, as it involves the optimization of multiple binding affinities. Computationally, the prediction of binding selectivity is a challenge, and generally applicable methodologies are still not available to the computational and medicinal chemistry communities. Absolute binding free energycalculations based on alchemical pathways provide a rigorous framework for affinity predictions and could thus offer a general approach to the problem. We evaluated the performance of free energycalculations based on molecular dynamics for the prediction of selectivity by estimating the affinity profile of three bromodomain inhibitors across multiple bromodomain families, and by comparing the results to isothermal titration calorimetry data. Two case studies were considered. In the first one, the affinities of two similar ligands for seven bromodomains were calculated and returned excellent agreement with experiment (mean unsigned error of 0.81 kcal/mol and Pearson correlation of 0.75). In this test case, we also show how the preferred binding orientation of a ligand for different proteins can be estimated via free energycalculations. In the second case, the affinities of a broad-spectrum inhibitor for 22 bromodomains were calculated and returned a more modest accuracy (mean unsigned error of 1.76 kcal/mol and Pearson correlation of 0.48); however, the reparametrization of a sulfonamide moiety improved the agreement with experiment. PMID:28009512

Free energy perturbation studies have been performed on Glucoamylase II (471) from Aspergillus awamori var. X100 complexed with three different inhibitors: (+)lentiginosine, (+)(1S,2S,7R,8aS) 1,2,7-trihydroxyindolizidine, (+)(1S,2S,7S,8aS) 1,2,7-trihydroxyindolizidine and the inactive compound (+)(1S,7R,8aS)-1,7-dihydroxyindolizidine. Molecular dynamic simulations were carried out using a recently developed procedure for fast Free Energy Perturbation calculations. In this procedure only a sphere of 1.8 nm around the central atom of the inhibitor is considered in the calculations. Crystallographic restraints are applied over this reduced system using a generated electron density map. The obtained values for the free energy differences agree with experimental data showing the importance of fast calculations in drug design even when the crystallographic structure of the complex is not available. As the method uses only the crystallographic structure of the receptor, it is possible to test the possible efficiency of even still not synthesised ligands, making the pre-selection of compounds much easy and faster.

The primary objective of this study was to estimate the current life-cycle cost-effective (i.e., economic) energy savings potential in Federal buildings and the corresponding capital investment required to achieve these savings, with Federal financing. Estimates were developed for major categories of energy efficiency measures such as building envelope, heating system, cooling system, and lighting. The analysis was based on conditions (building stock and characteristics, retrofit technologies, interest rates, energy prices, etc.) existing in the late 1990s. The potential impact of changes to any of these factors in the future was not considered.

This paper aims at analysing the potential of pin-by-pin SP{sub n} calculations to compute the neutronic flux in PWR cores as an alternative to the diffusion approximation. As far as pin-by-pin calculations are concerned, a SPH equivalence is used to preserve the reactions rates. The use of SPH equivalence is a common practice in core diffusion calculations. In this paper, a methodology to generalize the equivalence procedure in the SP{sub n} equations context is presented. In order to verify and validate the equivalence procedure, SP{sub n} calculations are compared to 2D transport reference results obtained with the APOLL02 code. The validation cases consist in 3x3 analytical assembly color sets involving burn-up heterogeneities, UOX/MOX interfaces, and control rods. Considering various energy discretizations (up to 26 groups) and flux development orders (up to 7) for the SP{sub n} equations, results show that 26-group SP{sub 3} calculations are very close to the transport reference (with pin production rates discrepancies < 1%). This proves the high interest of pin-by-pin SP{sub n} calculations as an industrial reference when relying on 26 energy groups combined with SP{sub 3} flux development order. Additionally, the SP{sub n} results are compared to diffusion pin-by-pin calculations, in order to evaluate the potential benefit of using a SP{sub n} solver as an alternative to diffusion. Discrepancies on pin-production rates are less than 1.6% for 6-group SP{sub 3} calculations against 3.2% for 2-group diffusion calculations. This shows that SP{sub n} solvers may be considered as an alternative to multigroup diffusion. (authors)

17β-Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (17β-HSD1) catalyzes the last step of the estrogen biosynthesis, namely the reduction of estrone to the biologically potent estradiol. As such it is a potentially attractive drug target for the treatment of estrogen-dependent diseases like breast cancer and endometriosis. 17β-HSD1 belongs to the bisubstrate enzymes and exists as an ensemble of conformations. These principally differ in the region of the βFαG'-loop, suggesting a prominent role in substrate and inhibitor binding. Although several classes of potent non-steroidal 17β-HSD1 inhibitors currently exist, their binding mode is still unclear. We aimed to elucidate the binding mode of bis(hydroxyphenyl)arenes, a highly potent class of 17β-HSD1 inhibitors, and to rank these compounds correctly with respect to their inhibitory potency, two essential aspects in drug design. Ensemble docking experiments resulted in a steroidal binding mode for the closed enzyme conformations and in an alternative mode for the opened and occluded conformers with the inhibitors placed below the NADPH interacting with it synergically via π-π stacking and H-bond formation. Both binding modes were investigated by MD simulations and MM-PBSA binding free energy estimations using as representative member for this class compound 1 (50 nM). Notably, only the alternative binding mode proved stable and was energetically more favorable, while when simulated in the steroidal binding mode compound 1 was displaced from the active site. In parallel, ab initio studies of small NADPH-inhibitor complexes were performed, which supported the importance of the synergistic interaction between inhibitors and cofactor.

Collecting webpage messages can serve as a sensor for investigating the energy-saving potential of buildings. Focusing on stores, a cloud sensor system is developed to collect data and determine their energy-saving potential. The owner of a store under investigation must register online, report the store address, area, and the customer ID number on the electric meter. The cloud sensor system automatically surveys the energy usage records by connecting to the power company website and calculating the energy use index (EUI) of the store. Other data includes the chain store check, company capital, location price, and the influence of weather conditions on the store; even the exposure frequency of store under investigation may impact the energy usage collected online. After collecting data from numerous stores, a multi-dimensional data array is constructed to determine energy-saving potential by identifying stores with similarity conditions. Similarity conditions refer to analyzed results that indicate that two stores have similar capital, business scale, weather conditions, and exposure frequency on web. Calculating the EUI difference or pure technical efficiency of stores, the energy-saving potential is determined. In this study, a real case study is performed. An 8-dimensional (8D) data array is constructed by surveying web data related to 67 stores. Then, this study investigated the savings potential of the 33 stores, using a site visit, and employed the cloud sensor system to determine the saving potential. The case study results show good agreement between the data obtained by the site visit and the cloud investigation, with errors within 4.17%. Among 33 the samples, eight stores have low saving potentials of less than 5%. The developed sensor on the cloud successfully identifies them as having low saving potential and avoids wasting money on the site visit. PMID:24561405

We investigate the supersymmetry properties of energy dependent potentials in the D=1 dimensional space. We show the main aspects of supersymmetry to be preserved, namely the factorization of the Hamiltonian, the connections between eigenvalues and wave functions of the partner Hamiltonians. Two methods are proposed. The first one requires the extension of the usual rules via the concept of local equivalent potential. In this case, the superpotential becomes depending on the state. The second method, applicable when the potential depends linearly on the energy, is similar to what has been already achieved by means of the Darboux transform. -- Highlights: •Supersymmetry extended to energy dependent potentials. •Generalization of the concept of superpotential. •An alternative method used for linear E-dependence leads to the same results as Darboux transform.

The K- optical potential in the nuclear medium is evaluated self consistently from a free-space K-Nt matrix constructed within a coupled-channel chiral approach. The fit of model parameters gives a good description of the low-energy data plus the available K- atomic data. The resulting optical potential is relatively `shallow' in contradiction to the potentials obtained from phenomenological analysis. The calculated (Kstop-,π) hypernuclear production rates are very sensitive to the details of kaonic bound state wave function. The (Kstop-,π) reaction could thus serve as a suitable tool to distinguish between shallow and deep K- optical potentials.

Ab initio effective core potentials (ECP's) have been generated to replace the Coulomb, exchange, and core-orthogonality effects of the chemically inert core electron in the transition metal atoms Sc to Hg. For the second and third transition series relative ECP's have been generated which also incorporate the mass--velocity and Darwin relativistic effects into the potential. The ab initio ECP's should facilitate valence electron calculations on molecules containing transition-metal atoms with accuracies approaching all-electron calculations at a fraction of the computational cost. Analytic fits to the potentials are presented for use in multicenter integral evaluation. Gaussian orbital valence basis sets are developed for the (3d,4s,4p), (4d,5s,5p), and (5d,6s,6p) orbitals of the first, second, and third transition series atoms, respectively. All-electron and valence-electron atomic excitation energies are also compared for the low-lying states of Sc--Hg, and the valence-electron calculations are found to reproduce the all-electron excitation energies (typically within a few tenths of an eV).

Trajectory-based Gaussian basis sets have been tremendously successful in describing high-dimensional quantum molecular dynamics. In this paper, we introduce a pseudospectral Gaussian-based method that achieves accurate quantum dynamics using efficient, real-space sampling of the time-dependent basis set. As in other Gaussian basis methods, we begin with a basis set expansion using time-dependent Gaussian basis functions guided by classical mechanics. Unlike other Gaussian methods but characteristic of the pseudospectral and collocation methods, the basis set is tested with N Dirac delta functions, where N is the number of basis functions, rather than using the basis function as test functions. As a result, the integration for matrix elements is reduced to function evaluation. Pseudospectral Gaussian dynamics only requires O(N) potentialenergycalculations, in contrast to O(N(2)) evaluations in a variational calculation. The classical trajectories allow small basis sets to sample high-dimensional potentials. Applications are made to diatomic oscillations in a Morse potential and a generalized version of the Henon-Heiles potential in two, four, and six dimensions. Comparisons are drawn to full analytical evaluation of potentialenergy integrals (variational) and the bra-ket averaged Taylor (BAT) expansion, an O(N) approximation used in Gaussian-based dynamics. In all cases, the pseudospectral Gaussian method is competitive with full variational calculations that require a global, analytical, and integrable potentialenergy surface. Additionally, the BAT breaks down when quantum mechanical coherence is particularly strong (i.e., barrier reflection in the Morse oscillator). The ability to obtain variational accuracy using only the potentialenergy at discrete points makes the pseudospectral Gaussian method a promising avenue for on-the-fly dynamics, where electronic structure calculations become computationally significant.

Owing to its large dipole, astrophysicists use carbon monosulfide (CS) as a tracer of molecular gas in the interstellar medium, often in regions where H(2) is the most abundant collider. Predictions of the rovibrational energy levels of the weakly bound complex CS-H(2) (not yet observed) and also of rate coefficients for rotational transitions of CS in collision with H(2) should help to interpret the observed spectra. This paper deals with the first goal, i.e., the calculation of the rovibrational energy levels. A new four-dimensional intermolecular potentialenergy surface for the H(2)-CS complex is presented. Ab initio potentialenergycalculations were carried out at the coupled-cluster level with single and double excitations and a perturbative treatment of triple excitations, using a quadruple-zeta basis set and midbond functions. The potentialenergy surface was obtained by an analytic fit of the ab initio data. The equilibrium structure of the H(2)-CS complex is found to be linear with the carbon pointing toward H(2) at the intermolecular separation of 8.6 a(o). The corresponding well depth is -173 cm(-1). The potential was used to calculate the rovibrational energy levels of the para-H(2)-CS and ortho-H(2)-CS complexes. The present work provides the first theoretical predictions of these levels. The calculated dissociation energies are found to be 35.9 cm(-1) and 49.9 cm(-1), respectively, for the para and ortho complexes. The second virial coefficient for the H(2)-CS pair has also been calculated for a large range of temperature. These results could be used to assign future experimental spectra and to check the accuracy of the potentialenergy surface.

The N2(+) potentialenergies have been determined from a complete active space self-consistent field calculation with active 2s and 2p electrons. A (6s 4p 3d 1f) Gaussian basis set was used together with additional higher angular momentum and diffuse functions. The calculatedpotentialenergy curves for the states 4Sigma(mu)(+), 4Pi(g), and 6Sigma(g)(+), for which there are no spectroscopic observations, are presented. The corresponding spectroscopic constants have been determined from a polynomial curve fit to the computed energies near the well minima and are shown. The 6Sigma(g)(+) state is found to be significantly bound, with a minimum at 1.72 A.

A three-dimensional intermolecular potentialenergy surface of the Ar–CO complex has been determined by fitting most of the previously reported spectroscopic data, where observed transition frequencies by microwave, millimeter-wave, submillimeter-wave, and infrared spectroscopy were reproduced simultaneously within their experimental accuracies. A free rotor model Hamiltonian considering all the freedom of motions for an atom-diatom system was applied to calculate vibration-rotation energies. A three-dimensional potentialenergy surface obtained by ab initio calculations at the CCSD(T)-F12b/aug-cc-pV5Z level of theory was parameterized by a model function consisting of 46 parameters. They were used as initial values for the least-squares analysis of the experimental data. A total of 20 parameters were optimized to reproduce all the spectroscopic data.

A three-dimensional intermolecular potentialenergy surface of the Ar-CO complex has been determined by fitting most of the previously reported spectroscopic data, where observed transition frequencies by microwave, millimeter-wave, submillimeter-wave, and infrared spectroscopy were reproduced simultaneously within their experimental accuracies. A free rotor model Hamiltonian considering all the freedom of motions for an atom-diatom system was applied to calculate vibration-rotation energies. A three-dimensional potentialenergy surface obtained by ab initio calculations at the CCSD(T)-F12b/aug-cc-pV5Z level of theory was parameterized by a model function consisting of 46 parameters. They were used as initial values for the least-squares analysis of the experimental data. A total of 20 parameters were optimized to reproduce all the spectroscopic data.

Gas hydrate deposits are receiving increased attention as potential locations for CO2 sequestration, with CO2 replacing the methane that is recovered as an energy source. In this scenario, it is very important to correctly characterize the cage occupancies of CO2 to correctly assess the sequestration potential as well as the methane recoverability. In order to predict accurate cage occupancies, the guest–host interaction potential must be represented properly. Earlier, these potential parameters were obtained by fitting to experimental equilibrium data and these fitted parameters do not match with those obtained by second virial coefficient or gas viscosity data. Ab initio quantum mechanical calculations provide an independent means to directly obtain accurate intermolecular potentials. A potentialenergy surface (PES) between H2O and CO2 was computed at the MP2/aug-cc-pVTZ level and corrected for basis set superposition error (BSSE), an error caused due to the lower basis set, by using the half counterpoise method. Intermolecular potentials were obtained by fitting Exponential-6 and Lennard-Jones 6-12 models to the ab initio PES, correcting for many-body interactions. We denoted this model as the “VAS” model. Reference parameters for structure I carbon dioxide hydrate were calculated using the VAS model (site–site ab initio intermolecular potentials) as Δμ(w)(0) = 1206 ± 2 J/mol and ΔH(w)(0) = 1260 ± 12 J/mol. With these reference parameters and the VAS model, pure CO2 hydrate equilibrium pressure was predicted with an average absolute deviation of less than 3.2% from the experimental data. Predictions of the small cage occupancy ranged from 32 to 51%, and the large cage is more than 98% occupied. The intermolecular potentials were also tested by calculating the pure CO2 density and diffusion of CO2 in water using molecular dynamics simulations.

Sensitivity coefficients describe the fractional change in a system response that is induced by changes to system parameters and nuclear data. The Tools for Sensitivity and UNcertainty Analysis Methodology Implementation (TSUNAMI) code within the SCALE code system makes use of eigenvalue sensitivity coefficients for an extensive number of criticality safety applications, including quantifying the data-induced uncertainty in the eigenvalue of critical systems, assessing the neutronic similarity between different critical systems, and guiding nuclear data adjustment studies. The need to model geometrically complex systems with improved fidelity and the desire to extend TSUNAMI analysis to advanced applications has motivated the developmentmore » of a methodology for calculating sensitivity coefficients in continuous-energy (CE) Monte Carlo applications. The Contributon-Linked eigenvalue sensitivity/Uncertainty estimation via Tracklength importance CHaracterization (CLUTCH) and Iterated Fission Probability (IFP) eigenvalue sensitivity methods were recently implemented in the CE-KENO framework of the SCALE code system to enable TSUNAMI-3D to perform eigenvalue sensitivity calculations using continuous-energy Monte Carlo methods. This work provides a detailed description of the theory behind the CLUTCH method and describes in detail its implementation. This work explores the improvements in eigenvalue sensitivity coefficient accuracy that can be gained through the use of continuous-energy sensitivity methods and also compares several sensitivity methods in terms of computational efficiency and memory requirements.« less

Sensitivity coefficients describe the fractional change in a system response that is induced by changes to system parameters and nuclear data. The Tools for Sensitivity and UNcertainty Analysis Methodology Implementation (TSUNAMI) code within the SCALE code system makes use of eigenvalue sensitivity coefficients for an extensive number of criticality safety applications, including quantifying the data-induced uncertainty in the eigenvalue of critical systems, assessing the neutronic similarity between different critical systems, and guiding nuclear data adjustment studies. The need to model geometrically complex systems with improved fidelity and the desire to extend TSUNAMI analysis to advanced applications has motivated the development of a methodology for calculating sensitivity coefficients in continuous-energy (CE) Monte Carlo applications. The Contributon-Linked eigenvalue sensitivity/Uncertainty estimation via Tracklength importance CHaracterization (CLUTCH) and Iterated Fission Probability (IFP) eigenvalue sensitivity methods were recently implemented in the CE-KENO framework of the SCALE code system to enable TSUNAMI-3D to perform eigenvalue sensitivity calculations using continuous-energy Monte Carlo methods. This work provides a detailed description of the theory behind the CLUTCH method and describes in detail its implementation. This work explores the improvements in eigenvalue sensitivity coefficient accuracy that can be gained through the use of continuous-energy sensitivity methods and also compares several sensitivity methods in terms of computational efficiency and memory requirements.

Using simulations to obtain information about the free energy of a system far from its free energy minima requires biased sampling, for example using a series of harmonic umbrella confining potentials to scan over a range of collective variable values. One fundamental distinction between existing methods that use this approach is in what quantities are measured and how they are used: histograms of the system's probability distribution in WHAM, or gradients of the potential of mean force for umbrella integration (UI) and the single-sweep radial basis function (RBF) approach. Here we present a method that reconstructs the free energy from umbrella sampling data using Bayesian inference that effectively uses all available information from multiple umbrella windows. We show that for a single collective variable, our method can use histograms, gradients, or both, to match or outperform WHAM and UI in the accuracy of free energy for a given amount of total simulation time. In higher dimensions, our method can effectively use gradient information to reconstruct the multidimensional free energy surface. We test our method for the alanine polypeptide model system, and show that it is more accurate than a RBF reconstruction for sparse data, and more stable for abundant data.

The defect properties and atomic configurations in GaN have been comparatively investigated using density functional theory (DFT) and molecular dynamics method with two representative potentials. The DFT calculations show that the relaxation of vacancies is generally small, but the relaxation around antisite defects is large. The N interstitials, starting from any possible configurations, eventually relax into a N+-N<11-20 > split interstitial. In the case of Ga interstitials, the most stable configuration is a Ga octahedral interstitial, but the Ga+-Ga<11-20 > split interstitial can bridge the gap between non-bounded Ga atoms. The formation energies of vacancies and antisite defects obtained using the Stillinger-Weber potential (SW) are in reasonable agreement with those obtained by DFT calculations, whereas the Tersoff-Brenner (TB) potential better describes the behavior of N interstitials.

An effective three-body potential for the aqueous Be(2+) ion has been constructed from a large number of high-level ab initio cluster calculations. The new potential was validated in subsequent molecular dynamics simulations of both gas phase ion-water clusters and bulk liquid. The structures of the first and second solvation shells were studied using radial distribution functions and angular distribution functions. The vibrational spectrum of Be(2+) and first shell waters was examined by computing power spectra from the molecular dynamics simulations. The observed bands showed reasonable agreement with experimental spectroscopic frequencies. The potential of mean force for water exchange between the first and second solvation shells was calculated and the energy barrier for exchange was found to have improved agreement with experiment relative to two-body force fields. Examination of the solvation structure near the transition state yielded results consistent with an associative mechanism.

In the current paper we quantified and evaluated the energy saving potential in air conditioners and chiller systems. Here, we also showed how to reduce the cost of air conditioners and chiller systems in existing facilities on the basis of payback periods. Among the measures investigated were: (1) installing higher efficiency air conditioners, (2) installing higher efficiency chillers, (3) duty cycling air conditioning units, and (4) utilizing existing economizers on air conditioning units. For each method, examples were provided from Arizona, USA. In these examples, the amount of saved energy, the financial evaluation of this energy, and the investment cost and pay back periods were calculated.

In the current paper we quantified and evaluated the energy saving potential in air conditioners and chiller systems. Here, we also showed how to reduce the cost of air conditioners and chiller systems in existing facilities on the basis of payback periods. Among the measures investigated were: (1) installing higher efficiency air conditioners, (2) installing higher efficiency chillers, (3) duty cycling air conditioning units, and (4) utilizing existing economizers on air conditioning units. For each method, examples were provided from Arizona, USA. In these examples, the amount of saved energy, the financial evaluation of this energy, and the investment costmore » and pay back periods were calculated.« less

The parquet decomposition of the self-energy into classes of diagrams, those associated with specific scattering processes, can be exploited for different scopes. In this work, the parquet decomposition is used to unravel the underlying physics of nonperturbative numerical calculations. We show the specific example of dynamical mean field theory and its cluster extensions [dynamical cluster approximation (DCA)] applied to the Hubbard model at half-filling and with hole doping: These techniques allow for a simultaneous determination of two-particle vertex functions and self-energies and, hence, for an essentially "exact" parquet decomposition at the single-site or at the cluster level. Our calculations show that the self-energies in the underdoped regime are dominated by spin-scattering processes, consistent with the conclusions obtained by means of the fluctuation diagnostics approach [O. Gunnarsson et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 236402 (2015), 10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.236402]. However, differently from the latter approach, the parquet procedure displays important changes with increasing interaction: Even for relatively moderate couplings, well before the Mott transition, singularities appear in different terms, with the notable exception of the predominant spin channel. We explain precisely how these singularities, which partly limit the utility of the parquet decomposition and, more generally, of parquet-based algorithms, are never found in the fluctuation diagnostics procedure. Finally, by a more refined analysis, we link the occurrence of the parquet singularities in our calculations to a progressive suppression of charge fluctuations and the formation of a resonance valence bond state, which are typical hallmarks of a pseudogap state in DCA.

Biomass energy crops can provide a significant and environmentally beneficial source of renewable energy feedstocks for the future. They can revitalize the agricultural sector of the US economy by providing profitable uses for marginal cropland. Energy crops include fast-growing trees, perennial grasses, and annual grasses, all capable of collecting solar energy and storing it as cellulosic compounds for several months to several years. Once solar energy is thus captured, it can be converted by means of currently available technologies to a wide variety of energy products such as electricity, heat, liquid transportation fuels, and gases. Experimental results from field trials have generated optimism that selected and improved energy crops, established on cropland with moderate limitations for crop production, have the potential for producing high yields. Both trees and grasses, under very good growing conditions, have produced average annual yields of 20 to 40 dry Mg ha{sup {minus}1} year{sup {minus}1}. Sorghum has shown especially high yields in the Midwest. Hybrids between sugar cane and its wild relatives, called energy cane, have yielded as much as 50 dry Mg ha{sup {minus}1} year{sup {minus}1} in Florida. These experimental results demonstrate that some species have the genetic potential for very rapid growth rates. New wood energy crop systems developed by the Department of Energy`s Biofuels Feedstock Development Program offer, at a minimum, a 100% increase in biomass production rates over the 2 to 4 Mg ha{sup {minus}1} year{sup {minus}1} of dry leafless woody biomass produced by most natural forest systems. Experimental data indicate that short rotation wood crops established on cropland with moderate limitations are capable of producing biomass yields of 8--20 dry Mg ha{sup {minus}1} year{sup {minus}1} with a present average about 11 dry Mg ha{sup {minus}1} year{sup {minus}1} on typical cropland sites.

The sensitivity of terpyrrole (TPy; used as a polypyrrole model) to toxic hydrogen cyanide (HCN) adsorption was studied by using DFT to perform geometry optimization and to calculate the adsorption energy of HCN on TPy as well as orbital properties. The interaction of terpyrrole with HCN was studied for different relative orientations of the molecules. The adsorption energy, charge analysis, and the density of states were used to evaluate the ability of TPy to sense HCN in these different relative orientations. The adsorption energy was calculated to be -3.9 and -3.1 kcal mol(-1) for two possible relative orientations. Frontier molecular orbitals and energies indicated that some hybridization occurs during the adsorption of HCN on TPy when the molecules have appropriate relative orientations, resulting in an increase in conductivity. Considering the changes in the HOMO-LUMO energy gap that were calculated to occur during HCN adsorption, it is clear that TPy is sensitive to HCN adsorption, suggesting that TPy has the potential to act as an HCN sensor. Graphical abstract HCN adsorption on TPy.

A generalization of the real-space Green’s-function approach is presented for ab initio calculations of relativistic electron energy loss spectra (EELS) which are particularly important in anisotropic materials. The approach incorporates relativistic effects in terms of the transition tensor within the dipole-selection rule. In particular, the method accounts for relativistic corrections to the magic angle in orientation resolved EELS experiments. The approach is validated by a study of the graphite CK edge, for which we present an accurate magic angle measurement consistent with the predicted value.

We describe how to increase the accuracy ofthe most recent variants ofthe HEAT method for calculating atomization energies of molecules by means ofextremely simple empirical corrections that depend on stoichiometry and the number ofunpaired electrons in the molecule. Our corrections reduce the deviation from experiment for all the HEAT variants. In particular, our corrections reduce the average absolute deviation and the root-mean-square deviation ofthe 456-QP variant to 0.18 and 0.23 kJoule/mol (i.e., 0.04 and 0.05 kcallmol), respectively.

Salt bridges are electrostatic links between acidic and basic amino acids in a protein; quantum calculations are used here to determine the energetics and other properties of one form of these species, in the presence of water molecules. The acidic groups are carboxylic acids (aspartic and glutamic acids); proteins have two bases with pK above physiological pH: one, arginine, with a guanidinium basic group, the other lysine, which is a primary amine. Only arginine is modeled here, by ethyl guanidinium, while propionic acid is used as a model for either carboxylic acid. The salt bridges are accompanied by 0-12 water molecules; for each of the 13 systems, the energy-bond distance relation, natural bond orbitals (NBO), frequency calculations allowing thermodynamic corrections to room temperature, and dielectric constant dependence, were all calculated. The water molecules were found to arrange themselves in hydrogen bonded rings anchored to the oxygens of the salt bridge components. This was not surprising in itself, but it was found that the rings lead to a periodicity in the energy, and to a 'water addition' rule. The latter shows that the initial rings, with four oxygen atoms, become five member rings when an additional water molecule becomes available, with the additional water filling in at the bond with the lowest Wiberg index, as calculated using NBO. The dielectric constant dependence is the expected hyperbola, and the fit of the energy to the inverse dielectric constant is determined. There is an energy periodicity related to ring formation upon addition of water molecules. When 10 water molecules have been added, all spaces near the salt bridge are filled, completing the first hydration shell, and a second shell starts to form. The potentials associated with salt bridges depend on their hydration, and potentials assigned without regard to local hydration are likely to cause errors as large as or larger than kBT, thus suggesting a serious problem if these

Of the many candidates employed for understanding the erosion of critical Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography (EUVL) components, potentialenergy damage remains relatively uninvestigated. Unlike the familiar kinetic energy sputtering, which is a consequence of the momentum transferred by an ion to atoms in the target, potentialenergy sputtering occurs when an ion rapidly collects charge from the target as it neutralizes. Since the neutralization energy of a singly charged ion is typically on the order of 10 eV, potentialenergy effects are generally neglected for low charge state ions, and hence the bulk of the sputtering literature. As an ion's charge state is increased, the potentialenergy (PE) increases rapidly, e.g. PE(Xe{sup 1+})= 11 eV, PE(Xe{sup 10+}) = 810 eV, PE(Xe{sup 20+}) = 4.6 keV, etc. By comparison, the binding energy of a single atom on a surface is typically about 5 eV, so even relatively inefficient energy transfer mechanisms can lead to large quantities of material being removed, e.g. 25% efficiency for Xe{sup 10+} corresponds to {approx} 40 atoms/ion. By comparison, singly charged xenon ions with {approx} 20 keV of kinetic energy sputter only about 5 atoms/ion at normal incidence, and less than 1 atom/ion at typical EUV source energies. EUV light sources are optimized for producing approximately 10{sup 16} xenon ions per shot with an average charge state of q=10 in the core plasma. At operational rates of {approx}10 kHz, the number of ions produced per second becomes a whopping 10{sup 20}. Even if only one in a billion ions reaches the collector, erosion rates could reach {approx}10{sup 12} atoms per second, severely reducing the collector lifetime (for an average yield of 10 atoms/ion). In addition, efforts to reduce contamination effects may contribute to reduced neutralization and even larger potentialenergy damages rates (discussed further below). In order to provide accurate estimates for collector lifetimes and to develop mitigation schemes

In this paper, we further develop the molecular fractionation with conjugate caps (MFCC) scheme for quantum mechanical computation of DNA-ligand interaction energy. We study three oligonuclear acid interaction systems: dinucleotide dCG/water, trinucleotide dCGT/water, and a Watson-Crick paired DNA segment, dCGT/dGCA. Using the basic MFCC approach, the nucleotide chains are cut at each phosphate group and a pair of conjugate caps (concaps) are inserted. Five cap molecules have been tested among which the dimethyl phosphate anion is proposed to be the standard concap for application. For each system, one-dimensional interaction potential curves are computed using the MFCC method and the calculated interaction energies are found to be in excellent agreement with corresponding results obtained from the full system ab initio calculations. The current study extends the application of the MFCC method to ab initio calculations for DNA- or RNA-ligand interaction energies.

A more flexible neural network (NN) method using the fundamental invariants (FIs) as the input vector is proposed in the construction of potentialenergy surfaces for molecular systems involving identical atoms. Mathematically, FIs finitely generate the permutation invariant polynomial (PIP) ring. In combination with NN, fundamental invariant neural network (FI-NN) can approximate any function to arbitrary accuracy. Because FI-NN minimizes the size of input permutation invariant polynomials, it can efficiently reduce the evaluation time of potentialenergy, in particular for polyatomic systems. In this work, we provide the FIs for all possible molecular systems up to five atoms. Potentialenergy surfaces for OH3 and CH4 were constructed with FI-NN, with the accuracy confirmed by full-dimensional quantum dynamic scattering and bound state calculations.

MCSCF (complete active space SCF) followed by configuration interaction calculations are carried out on 12 electronic states of GeH. Relativistic configuration interaction calculations are carried out with the objective of computing the spin-orbit corrections for the low-lying states. These calculations reveal the existence of 10 bound electronic states of GeH for which spectroscopic properties are computed. The three experimentally observed bands ( a- X, A- X, B- X) are assigned and the uncertainties in the experimental Te and ωe values of these states are corrected. In addition, the spectroscopic properties of 8 states are calculated which are yet to be observed. The spin-orbit coupling constant for the ground state X( 2Π) is calculated to be 869 cm -1. An accurate dissociation energy of 2.81 eV was obtained using {MCSCF}/{SOCI} calculation which employed a large Gaussian basis set questioning the experimental De of ˜3.3 eV obtained from the predissociation in the A2Δ state. It is shown that the intersection of the repulsive 4Π curve which dissociates into the ground state atoms causes predissociation in the A( 2Δ) , B( 2Σ +) , 2Σ +(III), and 2Π(II) states. The potentialenergy surfaces of a few excited states contain barriers. The calculated ground state dipole moment of 0.098 D is in disagreement with an experimental value of 1.24 D, questioning the experimental dipole moment.

The Energy Policy Act of 1992, Section 801 (US Congress, 1992) provides for the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to contract the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to conduct a study and provide findings and recommendations on reasonable standards for the disposal of high-level wastes at the Yucca Mountain site. The NAS study is to provide findings and recommendations which include, among other things, whether a health-based standard based on dose to individual members of the public from releases to the accessible environment will provide a reasonable standard for the protection of the health and safety of the public. The EPA, based upon and consistent with the findings and recommendations of the NAS, is required to promulgate standards for protection of the public from releases from radioactive materials stored or disposed of in a repository at the Yucca Mountain site. This document presents a number of different ``simple`` analyses of undisturbed repository performance that are intended to provide input to those responsible for setting appropriate environmental standards for a potential repository at the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada. Each of the processes included in the analyses has been simplified to capture the primary significance of that process in containing or isolating the waste from the biosphere. In these simplified analyses, the complex waste package interactions were approximated by a simple waste package ``failure`` distribution which is defined by the initiation and rate of waste package ``failures``. Similarly, releases from the waste package and the engineered barrier system are controlled by the very near field environment and the presence and rate of advective and diffusive release processes. Release was approximated by either a simple alteration-controlled release for the high solubility radionuclides and either a diffusive or advective-controlled release for the solubility-limited radionuclides.

Background: One important ingredient for many applications of nuclear physics to astrophysics, nuclear energy, and stockpile stewardship are cross sections for reactions of neutrons with rare isotopes. Since direct measurements are often not feasible, indirect methods, e.g., (d ,p ) reactions, should be used. Those (d ,p ) reactions may be viewed as three-body reactions and described with Faddeev techniques. Purpose: Faddeev equations in momentum space have a long tradition of utilizing separable interactions in order to arrive at sets of coupled integral equations in one variable. Optical potentials representing the effective interactions in the neutron (proton) nucleus subsystem are usually non-Hermitian as well as energy dependent. Potential matrix elements as well as transition matrix elements calculated with them must fulfill the reciprocity theorem. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a separable, energy-dependent representation of complex, energy-dependent optical potentials that fulfill reciprocity exactly. Methods: Momentum space Lippmann-Schwinger integral equations are solved with standard techniques to obtain the form factors for the separable representation. Results: Starting from a separable, energy-independent representation of global optical potentials based on a generalization of the Ernst-Shakin-Thaler (EST) scheme, a further generalization is needed to take into account the energy dependence. Applications to n +48Ca ,n +208Pb , and p +208Pb are investigated for energies from 0 to 50 MeV with special emphasis on fulfilling reciprocity. Conclusions: We find that the energy-dependent separable representation of complex, energy-dependent phenomenological optical potentials fulfills reciprocity exactly. In addition, taking into account the explicit energy dependence slightly improves the description of the S matrix elements.

The self-energy (SE) correction is evaluated for a single valence ns electron of heavy and superheavy atoms with n up to 8 and the nuclear charge Z up to 119. The recently developed approach based on the commutator expansion is employed. Various Dirac-Slater one-electron local potentials with extended nuclei are used. The Lamb shifts were calculated by adding the average values of the Uehling potential to the SE contributions. The results confirm the earlier estimates for the quantum electrodynamical effects on the valence energies of heavy and superheavy atoms.

As many states have restructured their electric power industry, they have established a ''systems benefit charge'' to help fund those activities that will no longer be funded by utilities in the new structure. Examples include weatherization of low-income housing, efficiency programs, and renewable energy development. Varying amounts have been collected and allocated depending on state needs and abilities. One question that arises is what are the potential results of funding the different types of programs. What is the potential for energy efficiency or for renewable power, and what would be accomplished given the amount of funding that the system benefit charge may provide? The purpose of this project is to provide an initial estimate of the potential for energy efficiency and renewable energy in North Carolina. This potential could be funded by a public benefits fund resulting from a green power program being considered in the state. It concentrates on electric energy savings and production. Savings in buildings can include improvements to space conditioning as well as improvements to lighting or other appliances. Distributed power potential, through use of combined heat and power and renewables such as photovoltaic, wind, and biomass were examined. The goal is to provide information to decision makers who are developing a green power program in North Carolina. It will not be a complete and detailed study of all efficiency potentials but is more of a scoping exercise to determine the relative impacts and begin the process for a more definitive study at a later date. Statewide energy savings potential cannot be directly measured but must be calculated. First, the word ''potential'' means that the savings have not occurred yet. Second, the savings are often only indirectly measured by estimating what energy use there would have been without the changes in technology or behavior. Calculations through sampling and statistical analysis or by simulation are a necessary

We apply ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) methods in conjunction with the thermodynamic integration or "lambda-path" technique to compute the intrinsic hydration free energies of Li(+), Cl(-), and Ag(+) ions. Using the Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof functional, adapting methods developed for classical force field applications, and with consistent assumptions about surface potential (phi) contributions, we obtain absolute AIMD hydration free energies (DeltaG(hyd)) within a few kcal/mol, or better than 4%, of Tissandier et al.'s [J. Phys. Chem. A 102, 7787 (1998)] experimental values augmented with the SPC/E water model phi predictions. The sums of Li(+)/Cl(-) and Ag(+)/Cl(-) AIMD DeltaG(hyd), which are not affected by surface potentials, are within 2.6% and 1.2 % of experimental values, respectively. We also report the free energy changes associated with the transition metal ion redox reaction Ag(+)+Ni(+)-->Ag+Ni(2+) in water. The predictions for this reaction suggest that existing estimates of DeltaG(hyd) for unstable radiolysis intermediates such as Ni(+) may need to be extensively revised.

Intermolecular interaction energies of methane dimer were calculated by using several basis sets up to 6-311G(3d,4p) with electron correlation energy correction by the Moeller-Plesset perturbation method and basis set superposition error (BSSE) correction by the counterpoise method to evaluate the basis set effect. The calculated interaction energies depended on the basis set considerably. Whereas the interaction energies of repulsive component calculated at HF level were not affected by the change of basis set, the dispersion energy component dependent greatly on the basis set used. The dispersion energiescalculated with the Moeller-Plesset second- and third-order perturbation by using 6-311G(2d,2p) basis set were 0-10% and 4-6% smaller than those obtained with the fourth-order (MP4(SDTQ)) perturbation, respectively. The BSSE's calculated by the counterpoise method were still about 30% of the calculated intermolecular interaction energies for the conformers of energy minima event at the MP4(SDTQ)/6-311G(2d,2p) level. The calculated interaction potentials of dimers at the MP4(SDTQ)/6-311G(2d,2p) level were considerably shallower than those obtained by MM2 force fields but were close to the potentials given by the Williams potential and by the recently reported MM3 force field.

The metal-ligand bond dissociation energies (CO) nM-L are theoretically predicted at the HF, MP2 and CCSD(T) levels of theory using effective core potentials for the metals for M = Cr, Mo, W, Ni, Pd, Pt and for L = CO, NO +, CN -, NC -, CS, SiO, N 2. The bond energies at the HF level are too low and the MP2 values are too high, while the CCSD(T) results are in good agreement with experimental data. The bond energies at MP2 show the same trend as the CCSD(T) values and may therefore be used for the prediction of relative bond dissociation energies. The absolute values for the bond energiescalculated at MP2 are significantly improved when they are corrected using the energies of isostructural reactions M(CO) n + L → M(CO) n-1 L + CO.

New analytical bending and stretching, ground electronic state, potentialenergy surfaces for CH(3)F are reported. The surfaces are expressed in bond-length, bond-angle internal coordinates. The four-dimensional stretching surface is an accurate, least squares fit to over 2000 symmetrically unique ab initio points calculated at the CCSD(T) level. Similarly, the five-dimensional bending surface is a fit to over 1200 symmetrically unique ab initio points. This is an important first stage towards a full nine-dimensional potentialenergy surface for the prototype CH(3)F molecule. Using these surfaces, highly excited stretching and (separately) bending vibrational energy levels of CH(3)F are calculated variationally using a finite basis representation method. The method uses the exact vibrational kinetic energy operator derived for XY(3)Z systems by Manson and Law (preceding paper, Part I, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2006, 8, DOI: 10.1039/b603106d). We use the full C(3v) symmetry and the computer codes are designed to use an arbitrary potentialenergy function. Ultimately, these results will be used to design a compact basis for fully coupled stretch-bend calculations of the vibrational energy levels of the CH(3)F system.

Calculating relative free energies is a topic of substantial interest and has many applications including solvation and binding free energies, which are used in computational drug discovery. However, there remain the challenges of accuracy, simple implementation, robustness and efficiency, which prevent the calculations from being automated and limit their use. Here we present an exact and complete decoupling analysis in which the partition functions of the compared systems decompose into the partition functions of the common and different subsystems. This decoupling analysis is applicable to submolecules with coupled degrees of freedom such as the methyl group and to any potential function (including the typical dihedral potentials), enabling to remove less terms in the transformation which results in a more efficient calculation. Then we show mathematically, in the context of partition function decoupling, that the two compared systems can be simulated separately, eliminating the need to design a composite system. We demonstrate the decoupling analysis and the separate transformations in a relative free energycalculation using MD simulations for a general force field and compare to another calculation and to experimental results. We present a unified soft-core technique that ensures the monotonicity of the numerically integrated function (analytical proof) which is important for the selection of intermediates. We show mathematically that in this soft-core technique the numerically integrated function can be non-steep only when we transform the systems separately, which can simplify the numerical integration. Finally, we show that when the systems have rugged energy landscape they can be equilibrated without introducing another sampling dimension which can also enable to use the simulation results for other free energycalculations.

The molecular flexibility phenomenon is discussed from the conformational potentialenergy(hyper) surface (PES) point of view. Flexibility is considered as a product of three terms: thermodynamic, kinetic and geometrical. Several expressions characterizing absolute and relative molecular flexibility are introduced, depending on a subspace studied of the entire conformational space, energy level E of PES as well as absolute temperature. Results obtained by programs DAISY, CICADA and PANIC in conjunction with molecular mechanics program MMX for flexibility analysis of isopentane, 2,2-dimethylpentane and isohexane molecules are introduced.

A molecular-dynamics (MD) simulation of structure-H hydrates was performed under constant pressure and temperature with 6120 TIP4P water molecules, 900 OPLS-UA methane molecules, and 180 large molecular guest substance (LMGS) molecules. The LMGS molecules were represented in the form of a one-site Lennard-Jones (LJ) model using the LJ parameters σ and ɛ. In order to clarify the thermodynamic stability of structure-H hydrates, we calculated the free-energy difference, changing on the σ and ɛ only of the LMGS molecules. In this simulation, stable crystals of structure-H hydrates and a minimum value of ΔG were obtained at σ ˜6.2Å and large values of ɛ. All simulations were performed using the special-purpose computer hardware MDGRAPE-2.

An important question for commercial energy code compliance is: “How much energy cost savings can better compliance achieve?” This question is in sharp contrast to prior efforts that used a checklist of code requirements, each of which was graded pass or fail. Percent compliance for any given building was simply the percent of individual requirements that passed. A field investigation method is being developed that goes beyond the binary approach to determine how much energy cost savings is not realized. Prototype building simulations were used to estimate the energy cost impact of varying levels of non-compliance for newly constructed office buildings in climate zone 4C. Field data collected from actual buildings on specific conditions relative to code requirements was then applied to the simulation results to find the potential lost energy savings for a single building or for a sample of buildings. This new methodology was tested on nine office buildings in climate zone 4C. The amount of additional energy cost savings they could have achieved had they complied fully with the 2012 International Energy Conservation Code is determined. This paper will present the results of the test, lessons learned, describe follow-on research that is needed to verify that the methodology is both accurate and practical, and discuss the benefits that might accrue if the method were widely adopted.

A scheme for the parallel calculation of energies at the coupled-cluster singles, doubles, and triples (CCSDT) level of theory, several approximate iterative CCSDT schemes (CCSDT-1a, CCSDT-1b, CCSDT-2, CCSDT-3, and CC3), and for the state-specific multireference coupled-cluster ansatz suggested by Mukherjee with a full treatment of triple excitations (Mk-MRCCSDT) is presented. The proposed scheme is based on the adaptation of a highly efficient serial coupled-cluster code leading to a communication-minimized implementation by parallelizing the time-determining steps. The parallel algorithm is tailored for affordable cluster architectures connected by standard communication networks such as Gigabit Ethernet. In this way, CCSDT and Mk-MRCCSDT computations become feasible even for larger molecular systems and basis sets. An analysis of the time-determining steps for CCSDT and Mk-MRCCSDT, namely the computation of the triple-excitation amplitudes and their individual contributions, is carried out. Benchmark calculations are presented for the N2O, ozone, and benzene molecules, proving that the parallelization of these steps is sufficient to obtain an efficient parallel scheme. A first application to the case of 2,6-pyridyne using a triple-ζ quality basis (222 basis functions) is presented demonstrating the efficiency of the current implementation.

The objective was to obtain accurate potentialenergy surfaces (PES's) for a number of reactions which are important in the H/N/O combustion process. The interest in this is centered around the design of the SCRAM jet engine for the National Aerospace Plane (NASP), which was envisioned as an air-breathing hydrogen-burning vehicle capable of reaching velocities as large as Mach 25. Preliminary studies indicated that the supersonic flow in the combustor region of the scram jet engine required accurate reaction rate data for reactions in the H/N/O system, some of which was not readily available from experiment. The most important class of combustion reactions from the standpoint of the NASP project are radical recombinaton reactions, since these reactions result in most of the heat release in the combustion process. Theoretical characterizations of the potentialenergy surfaces for these reactions are presented and discussed.

The gauge cell Monte Carlo method is extended to calculations of the incremental chemical potentials and free energies of linear chain molecules. The method was applied to chains of Lennard-Jones beads with stiff harmonic bonds up to 500 monomers in length. We show that the suggested method quantitatively reproduces the modified Widom particle insertion method of Kumar et al. [S. K. Kumar, I. Szleifer, and A. Z. Panagiotopoulos, Phys. Rev. Lett. 66(22), 2935 (1991)], and is by an order of magnitude more efficient for long chains in terms of the computational time required for the same accuracy of chemical potentialcalculations. The chain increment ansatz, which suggests that the incremental chemical potential is independent of the chain length, was tested at different temperatures. We confirmed that the ansatz holds only for coils above the θ temperature. Special attention is paid to the effects of the magnitude of adsorption potential and temperature on the behavior of single chains in confinements that are comparable in size with the free chain radius of gyration. At sufficiently low temperatures, the dependence of the incremental chemical potential on the chain length in wetting pores is superficially similar to a capillary condensation isotherm, reflecting monolayer formation following by pore volume filling, as the chain length increases. We find that the incremental gauge cell method is an accurate and efficient technique for calculations of the free energies of chain molecules in bulk systems and nanoconfinements alike. The suggested method may find practical applications, such as modeling polymer partitioning on porous substrates and dynamics of chain translocation into nanopores.

The gauge cell Monte Carlo method is extended to calculations of the incremental chemical potentials and free energies of linear chain molecules. The method was applied to chains of Lennard-Jones beads with stiff harmonic bonds up to 500 monomers in length. We show that the suggested method quantitatively reproduces the modified Widom particle insertion method of Kumar et al. [S. K. Kumar, I. Szleifer, and A. Z. Panagiotopoulos, Phys. Rev. Lett. 66(22), 2935 (1991)], 10.1103/PhysRevLett.66.2935, and is by an order of magnitude more efficient for long chains in terms of the computational time required for the same accuracy of chemical potentialcalculations. The chain increment ansatz, which suggests that the incremental chemical potential is independent of the chain length, was tested at different temperatures. We confirmed that the ansatz holds only for coils above the θ temperature. Special attention is paid to the effects of the magnitude of adsorption potential and temperature on the behavior of single chains in confinements that are comparable in size with the free chain radius of gyration. At sufficiently low temperatures, the dependence of the incremental chemical potential on the chain length in wetting pores is superficially similar to a capillary condensation isotherm, reflecting monolayer formation following by pore volume filling, as the chain length increases. We find that the incremental gauge cell method is an accurate and efficient technique for calculations of the free energies of chain molecules in bulk systems and nanoconfinements alike. The suggested method may find practical applications, such as modeling polymer partitioning on porous substrates and dynamics of chain translocation into nanopores.

A simultaneous use of the full molecular symmetry and of an exact kinetic energy operator (KEO) is of key importance for accurate predictions of vibrational levels at a high energy range from a potentialenergy surface (PES). An efficient method that permits a fast convergence of variational calculations would allow iterative optimization of the PES parameters using experimental data. In this work, we propose such a method applied to tetrahedral AB4 molecules for which a use of high symmetry is crucial for vibrational calculations. A symmetry-adapted contracted angular basis set for six redundant angles is introduced. Simple formulas using this basis set for explicit calculation of the angular matrix elements of KEO and PES are reported. The symmetric form (six redundant angles) of vibrational KEO without the sin(q)(-2) type singularity is derived. The efficient recursive algorithm based on the tensorial formalism is used for the calculation of vibrational matrix elements. A good basis set convergence for the calculations of vibrational levels of the CH4 molecule is demonstrated.

A simultaneous use of the full molecular symmetry and of an exact kinetic energy operator (KEO) is of key importance for accurate predictions of vibrational levels at a high energy range from a potentialenergy surface (PES). An efficient method that permits a fast convergence of variational calculations would allow iterative optimization of the PES parameters using experimental data. In this work, we propose such a method applied to tetrahedral AB{sub 4} molecules for which a use of high symmetry is crucial for vibrational calculations. A symmetry-adapted contracted angular basis set for six redundant angles is introduced. Simple formulas using this basis set for explicit calculation of the angular matrix elements of KEO and PES are reported. The symmetric form (six redundant angles) of vibrational KEO without the sin(q){sup −2} type singularity is derived. The efficient recursive algorithm based on the tensorial formalism is used for the calculation of vibrational matrix elements. A good basis set convergence for the calculations of vibrational levels of the CH{sub 4} molecule is demonstrated.

At the correlation-consistent polarized-valence quadruple-zeta complete active space self-consistent field second-order configuration interaction level of ab initio theory (cc-pVQZ CASSCF-SOCI), we calculated 129 points on the ground electronic state potentialenergy surface of the water dication H2O++; this calculation includes the energy of X3Σ- OH+ at equilibrium and the energy of the triplet oxygen atom. We determined the parameters in an analytical function that represents this surface out to the (OH+ + H+) and (O + 2H+) dissociation limits, for bending angles from 70 to 180°. There is a metastable minimum in this surface, at an energy of 43 600 cm-1 above the H+ + OH+ dissociation energy, and the geometry at this minimum is linear (D∞h), with an OH bond length of 1.195 Å. On the path to dissociation to H+ + OH+, there is a saddle point at an energy of 530 cm-1 above the minimum, and the geometry at the saddle point is linear (C∞ Kv) with OH bond lengths of 1.121 and 1.489 Å. Using the stabilization method, we calculated the lowest resonance on this surface. Relative to the metastable local minimum on the potentialenergy surface, the position of the lowest resonance for H2O++, D2O++, and T2O++ is 1977(85), 1473(25), and 1249(10) cm-1, respectively, where the width of each resonance (in cm-1) is given in parentheses.

The X-ray single-crystal structure of (2S,5R,6R)-6-amino-3,3-dimethyl-7-oxo-4-thia-1-azabicyclo[3.2.0]heptane-2-carboxylic acid, commonly known as (+)-6-aminopenicillanic acid (C8H12N2O3S) and a precursor of a variety of semi-synthetic penicillins, has been determined from synchrotron data at 150 K. The structure represents an ordered zwitterion and the crystals are nonmerohedrally twinned. The crystal structure is composed of a three-dimensional network built by three charge-assisted hydrogen bonds between the ammonium and carboxylate groups. The complementary analysis of the crystal packing by the PIXEL method brings to light the nature and ranking of the energetically most stabilizing intermolecular interaction energies. In accordance with the zwitterionic nature of the structure, PIXEL lattice energycalculations confirm the predominance of the Coulombic term (-379.1 kJ mol(-1)) ahead of the polarization (-141.4 kJ mol(-1)), dispersion (-133.7 kJ mol(-1)) and repulsion (266.3 kJ mol(-1)) contributions.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Building Technologies Program (BTP), conducted a study to estimate, through simulation, the potential cooling energy savings that could be achieved through novel approaches to capturing free radiative cooling in buildings, particularly photonic ‘selective emittance’ materials. This report documents the results of that study.

Hiraoka et al. have developed a self-assembling system referred to as a nanocube (Hiraoka et al., 2008). In the present contribution a coarse-grained model for this system is analysed, focusing on how the potentialenergy landscape for self-assembly is related to the geometry of the building blocks. We find that six molecules assemble to form various clusters, with cubic and sheet structures the most stable. The relative stability is determined by the geometry of the building blocks.

In an early work we have demonstrated the possibility of using Monte Carlo generated pencil beams for 3D electron beam dose calculations. However, in this model the electron beam was considered as monoenergetic and the effects of the energy spectrum were taken into account by correction factors, derived from measuring central-axis depth dose curves. In the present model, the electron beam is considered as polyenergetic and the pencil beam distribution of a clinical electron beam, of a given nominal energy, is represented as a linear combination of Monte Carlo monoenergetic pencil beams. The coefficients of the linear combination describe the energy spectrum of the clinical electron beam, and are chosen to provide the best-fit between the calculated and measured central axis depth dose, in water. The energy spectrum is determined by the constrained least square method. The angular distribution of the clinical electron beam is determined by in-air penumbra measurements. The predictions of this algorithm agree very well with the measurements in the region near the surface, and the discrepancies between the measured and calculated dose distributions, behind 3D heterogeneities, are reduced to less than 10%. We have demonstrated a new algorithm for 3D electron beam dose calculations, which takes into account the energy spectra. Results indicate that the use of this algorithm leads to a better modeling of dose distributions downstream, from complex heterogeneities.

In an early work we have demonstrated the possibility of using Monte Carlo generated pencil beams for 3D electron beam dose calculations. However, in this model the electron beam was considered as monoenergetic and the effects of the energy spectrum were taken into account by correction factors, derived from measuring central-axis depth dose curves. In the present model, the electron beam is considered as polyenergetic and the pencil beam distribution of a clinical electron beam, of a given nominal energy, is represented as a linear combination of Monte Carlo monoenergetic pencil beams. The coefficients of the linear combination describe the energy spectrum of the clinical electron beam, and are chosen to provide the best-fit between the calculated and measured central axis depth dose, in water. The energy spectrum is determined by the constrained least square method. The angular distribution of the clinical electron beam is determined by in-air penumbra measurements. The predictions of this algorithm agree very well with the measurements in the region near the surface, and the discrepancies between the measured and calculated dose distributions, behind 3D heterogeneities, are reduced to less than 10%. We have demonstrated a new algorithm for 3D electron beam dose calculations, which takes into account the energy spectra. Results indicate that the use of this algorithm leads to a better modeling of dose distributions downstream, from complex heterogeneities. PMID:20126560

We present PAFMPB, an updated and parallel version of the AFMPB software package for fast calculation of molecular solvation-free energy. The new version has the following new features: (1) The adaptive fast multipole method and the boundary element methods are parallelized; (2) A tool is embedded for automatic molecular VDW/SAS surface mesh generation, leaving the requirement for a mesh file at input optional; (3) The package provides fast calculation of the total solvation-free energy, including the PB electrostatic and nonpolar interaction contributions. PAFMPB is implemented in C and Fortran programming languages, with the Cilk Plus extension to harness the computing power of both multicore and vector processing. Computational experiments demonstrate the successful application of PAFMPB to the calculation of the PB potential on a dengue virus system with more than one million atoms and a mesh with approximately 20 million triangles.

Our recent procedure of the unrestricted generalized transition state (uGTS) model for density functional calculations of core-electron binding energies has been applied to seven carbonyl and nitrosyl inorganic complexes: Fe(CO) 5, Ni(CO) 4, Mn(CO) 4NO, Co(CO) 3NO, Fe(CO) 2(NO) 2, Mn(NO) 3CO and Cr(NO) 4. The exchange-correlation potential is based on a combined functional of Becke's exchange (B88) and Perdew's correlation (P86). The cc-pVTZ basis set was used for the calculation of neutral molecules, while for the partial cation created in the uGTS approach we scaled the cc-pVTZ basis set using a procedure based on Clementi and Raimondi's rules for atomic screening. The average absolute deviation of the calculated core-electron binding energy from experiment is 0.28 eV.

Free energycalculations are one of the most useful methods for the study of ion transport mechanisms through confined spaces such as protein ion channels. Their reliability depends on a correctly defined reaction coordinate (RC). A straight line is usually not a proper RC for such complicated processes so in this work a combined metadynamics/umbrella sampling (MTD/US) method is proposed. In the combined method, the ion transport pathway is first identified by the MTD method and then the free energy profile or potential of mean force (PMF) along the path is calculated using umbrella sampling. This combined method avoids the discontinuity problem often associated with normal umbrella sampling calculations that assume a straight line RC and it provides a more physically accurate PMF for such processes. The method is demonstrated for the proton transport process through the protein channel of aquaporin-1. PMID:25100923

California has been using DOE-2 as the main building energy analysis tool in the development of building energy efficiency standards (Title 24) and the code compliance calculations. However, DOE-2.1E is a mature program that is no longer supported by LBNL on contract to the USDOE, or by any other public or private entity. With no more significant updates in the modeling capabilities of DOE-2.1E during recent years, DOE-2.1E lacks the ability to model, with the necessary accuracy, a number of building technologies that have the potential to reduce significantly the energy consumption of buildings in California. DOE-2's legacy software code makes it difficult and time consuming to add new or enhance existing modeling features in DOE-2. Therefore the USDOE proposed to develop a new tool, EnergyPlus, which is intended to replace DOE-2 as the next generation building simulation tool. EnergyPlus inherited most of the useful features from DOE-2 and BLAST, and more significantly added new modeling capabilities far beyond DOE-2, BLAST, and other simulations tools currently available. With California's net zero energy goals for new residential buildings in 2020 and for new commercial buildings in 2030, California needs to evaluate and promote currently available best practice and emerging technologies to significantly reduce energy use of buildings for space cooling and heating, ventilating, refrigerating, lighting, and water heating. The California Energy Commission (CEC) needs to adopt a new building energy simulation program for developing and maintaining future versions of Title 24. Therefore, EnergyPlus became a good candidate to CEC for its use in developing and complying with future Title 24 upgrades. In 2004, the Pacific Gas and Electric Company contracted with ArchitecturalEnergy Corporation (AEC), Taylor Engineering, and GARD Analytics to evaluate EnergyPlus in its ability to model those energy efficiency measures specified in both the residential and

We present correlation-polarization potentials for the calculation of scattering cross sections of positrons with atoms and molecules. The potentials are constructed from a short-range correlation term and a long-range polarization term. For the short-range correlation term we present four different potentials that are derived from multi-component density functionals. For the long-range polarization term we employ a multi-term expansion. Quantum scattering calculations are presented for low energy collisions of positrons with two atomic targets (argon and krypton) and two molecular targets (nitrogen and methane). For collision energies below the threshold for Positronium formation our calculations of scattering cross sections are in good agreement with recent data sets from experiments and theory. Contribution to the Topical Issue "Low-Energy Interactions related to Atmospheric and Extreme Conditions", edited by S. Ptasinska, M. Smialek-Telega, A. Milosavljevic and B. Sivaraman.

For fissioning isotopes of Ra, Ac, Th, Pa, and U, the potentialenergies as a function of the charge asymmetry coordinate are extracted from the experimental charge distributions of the fission fragment and compared with the calculated scission-point driving potentials. The role of the potentialenergy surfaces in the description of the fission charge distribution is discussed.

The potentialenergy of molecules and nanostructures is commonly calculated in the molecular mechanics formalism by superimposing bonded and nonbonded atomic energy terms, i.e. bonds between two atoms, bond angles involving three atoms, dihedral angles involving four atoms, nonbonded terms expressing the Coulomb and Lennard-Jones interactions, etc. In this work a new, generalized numerical simulation is presented for studying the mechanical behavior of three-dimensional nanostructures at the atomic scale. The energy gradient and Hessian matrix of such assemblies are usually computed numerically; a potentialenergy finite element model is proposed herein where these two components are expressed analytically. In particular, generalized finite elements are developed that express the interactions among atoms in a manner equivalent to that invoked in simulations performed based on the molecular dynamics method. Thus, the global tangent stiffness matrix for any nanostructure is formed as an assembly of the generalized finite elements and is directly equivalent to the Hessian matrix of the potentialenergy. The advantages of the proposed model are identified in terms of both accuracy and computational efficiency. In the case of popular force fields (e.g., CHARMM), the computation of the Hessian matrix by implementing the proposed method is of the same order as that of the gradient. This analysis can be used to minimize the potentialenergy of molecular systems under nodal loads in order to derive constitutive laws for molecular systems where the entropy and solvent effects are neglected and can be approximated as solids, such as double stranded DNA nanostructures. In this context, the sequence dependent stretch modulus for some typical base pairs step is calculated.

The ab initio calculations have been used to study the generalized-stacking-fault energy (GSFE) surfaces and surface energies for the closed-packed (1 1 1) plane in FCC metals Cu, Ag, Au, Ni, Al, Rh, Ir, Pd, Pt, and Pb. The GSFE curves along <112> (1 1 1) direction and <110> (1 1 1) direction, and surface energies have been calculated from first principles. Based on the translational symmetry of the GSFE surfaces, the fitted expressions have been obtained from the Fourier series. Our results of the GSFEs and surface energies agree better with experimental results. The metals Al, Pd, and Pt have low γ/γI value, so full dislocation will be observed easily; while Cu, Ag, Au, and Ni have large γ/γI value, so it is preferred to create partial dislocation. From the calculations of surface energies, it is confirmed that the VIII column elements Ni, Rh, Ir, Pd, and Pt have higher surface energies than other metals.

We describe a simple analytic representation of the ArH2 potentialenergy surface which well reproduces the results of extensive ab initio electronic structure calculations. The analytic representation smoothly interpolates between the dissociated H2 and strong bonding limits. In the fitting process, emphasis is made on accurately reproducing regions of the potential expected to be important for high temperature (ca. 3000 K) collision processes. Overall, the anisotropy and H2 bond length dependence of the analytic representation well reproduce the input data.

We describe a simple analytic representation of the ArH2 potentialenergy surface which well reproduces the results of extensive ab initio electronic structure calculations. The analytic representation smoothly interpolates between the dissociated H2 and strong bonding limits. In the fitting process, emphasis is made on accurately reproducing regions of the potential expected to be important for high temperature (ca. 3000 K) collision processes. Overall, the anisotropy and H2 bond length dependence of the analytic representation well reproduce the input data.

We demonstrate that knowledge of chemical physics on a materials system can be automatically extracted from first-principles calculations using a data mining technique; this information can then be utilized to construct a simple empirical atomic potential model. By using unsupervised learning of the generative Gaussian mixture model, physically meaningful patterns of atomic local chemical environments can be detected automatically. Based on the obtained information regarding these atomic patterns, we propose a chemical-structure-dependent linear mixture model for estimating the atomic potentialenergy. Our experiments show that the proposed mixture model significantly improves the accuracy of the prediction of the potentialenergy surface for complex systems that possess a large diversity in their local structures.

In recent years it has become increasingly common to analyse spectroscopic data by using ``direct potential fits" of simulated data generated from analytic potentialenergy functions to experiment to optimize the parameters defining that potentialenergy function. This has the advantages of circumventing use of the semiclassical approximations associated with traditional methodologies, and of directly yielding a closed-form expression that is the most compact and comprehensive way to summarize what we know about a molecule. A question which then arises is: What are the uncertainties in properties computed using this potential? It turns out that this question is very closely related to the question of how to apply this simulation/fitting method efficiently to the analysis of bound to continuum intensity data. Both depend upon being able to answer the question: What are the partial derivatives of a wavefunction with respect to the parameters defining the potentialenergy function from which it is generated? It will be shown that such partial derivatives may be obtained readily as the `particular' solutions of linear inhomogeneous differential equations of a type that is routinely solved in another context for calculating the centrifugal distortion constants of diatomic molecules. Applications of this technique have been incorporated into the publicly available bound-state data analysis and simulation program DPotFit and the distributed bound to continuum simulation/fitting program BCONT. J.M. Hutson, J. Phys. B (At. Mol. Phys) {14}, 851 (1981). J. Tellinghuisen, J. Mol. Spectrosc. {122}, 455 (1987). See http://leroy.uwaterloo.ca/programs/

There is considerable ambiguity about the formation of native defects and their clusters in SiC, since different empirical potential gives different results, particular related to the stability of interstitial configurations. Ab intio pseudopotential methods are used to study the formation and properties of native defects in beta-SiC. The results are compared with those calculated by molecular dynamics (MD) using a Tersoff potential, where the various cut-off distances found in the literature are employed. The formation energy of vacancies and antisite defects obtained by ab initio calculations are in good agreement with those given by the Tersoff potential, regardless of the cut-off distances, but there is a disparity for interstitials between the two methods, depending on the cut-off distances used in the Tersoff potential. The present results, however, provide guidelines for evaluating the quality and fit of empirical potentials for large-scale simulations of irradiation damage (displacement cascades) and point defect migration (recombination or annealing) in SiC.

We derive from statistical mechanics the Gibbs free energy of an elastic random-walk chain affected by the presence of an external electric field. Intrachain charge interactions are ignored. In addition, we find two approximations of the Helmholtz potential for this system analogous to the gaussian and Cohen-Padé approximations for an elastic strand without the presence of an electric field. Our expressions agree well with exact numerical calculations of the potential in a wide range of conditions. Our analog of the gaussian approximation exhibits distortion of the monomer density due to the presence of the electric field, and our analog of the Cohen-Padé approximation additionally includes finite chain extensibility effects. The Helmholtz potential may be used in modeling the dynamics of electrophoresis experiments.

Metadynamics is a highly successful enhanced sampling technique for simulation of molecular processes and prediction of their free energy surfaces. An in-depth analysis of data obtained by this method is as important as the simulation itself. Although there are several tools to compute free energy surfaces from metadynamics data, they usually lack user friendliness and a build-in visualization part. Here we introduce Metadyn View as a fast and user friendly viewer of bias potential/free energy surfaces calculated by metadynamics in Plumed package. It is based on modern web technologies including HTML5, JavaScript and Cascade Style Sheets (CSS). It can be used by visiting the web site and uploading a HILLS file. It calculates the bias potential/free energy surface on the client-side, so it can run online or offline without necessity to install additional web engines. Moreover, it includes tools for measurement of free energies and free energy differences and data/image export.

The calculation of binding free energies is important in many condensed matter problems. Although formally exact computational methods have the potential to complement, add to, and even compete with experimental approaches, they are difficult to use and extremely time consuming. We describe a Grid-based approach for the calculation of relative binding free energies, which we call Steered Thermodynamic Integration calculations using Molecular Dynamics (STIMD), and its application to Src homology 2 (SH2) protein cell signalling domains. We show that the time taken to compute free energy differences using thermodynamic integration can be significantly reduced: potentially from weeks or months to days of wall-clock time. To be able to perform such accelerated calculations requires the ability to both run concurrently and control in realtime several parallel simulations on a computational Grid. We describe how the RealityGrid computational steering system, in conjunction with a scalable classical MD code, can be used to dramatically reduce the time to achieve a result. This is necessary to improve the adoption of this technique and further allows more detailed investigations into the accuracy and precision of thermodynamic integration. Initial results for the Src SH2 system are presented and compared to a reported experimental value. Finally, we discuss the significance of our approach.

Triplet ketene exhibits a steplike structure in the experimentally observed photodissociation rates, but its mechanism is still unknown despite many theoretical efforts. Here we revisit this problem by calculating the potentialenergy profile of triplet ketene with the Adamowicz and Mukherjee multireference coupled-cluster (MRCC) theories. At the MRCCSD level, the imaginary frequency of the dissociation barrier is calculated to be about 300i cm-1, which is slightly smaller than the previous estimates but is still much greater than the expected maximum value for reproducing the observed steps (100i cm-1). This implies that other types of mechanisms (including nonadiabatic ones) may be more plausible for the observed steps.

A close approximation to the empirical potentialenergy curve of the neon dimer is obtained by coupled-cluster singles plus doubles plus noniterative triples calculations by using nonaugmented correlation-consistent basis sets without counterpoise corrections and complementing them by three-term extrapolations to the complete basis set limit. The potentialenergy is resolved into a self-consistent-field Hartree-Fock contribution and a correlation contribution. The latter is shown to decay in the long-range region in accordance with the empirical dispersion expansion.

A quantitative characterization of the methodologies of free-energy perturbation (FEP) calculations is presented, and optimal implementation of the methods for reliable and efficient calculation is addressed. Some common misunderstandings in the FEP calculations are corrected. The two opposite directions of FEP calculations are uniquely defined as generalized insertion and generalized deletion, according to the entropy change along the perturbation direction. These two calculations are not symmetric; they produce free-energy results differing systematically due to the different capability of each to sample the important phase-space in a finite-length simulation. The FEP calculation errors are quantified by characterizing the simulation sampling process with the help of probability density functions for the potentialenergy change. While the random error in the FEP calculation is analyzed with a probabilistic approach, the systematic error is characterized as the most-likely inaccuracy, which is modeled considering the poor sampling of low-probability energy distribution tails. Our analysis shows that the entropy difference between the perturbation systems plays a key role in determining the reliability of FEP results, and the perturbation should be carried out in the insertion direction in order to ensure a good sampling and thus a reliable calculation. Easy-to-use heuristics are developed to estimate the simulation errors, as well as the simulation length that ensures a certain accuracy level of the calculation. The fundamental understanding obtained is then applied to tackle the problem of multistage FEP optimization. We provide the first principle of optimal staging: For each substage FEP calculation, the higher entropy system should be used as the reference to govern the sampling, i.e., the calculation should be conducted in the generalized insertion direction for each stage of perturbation. To minimize the simulation error, intermediate states should be

Electron affinities (EAs) and free energies for electron attachment (DeltaGo(a,298K)) have been directly calculated for 45 polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and related molecules by a variety of theoretical methods, with standard regression errors of about 0.07 eV (mean unsigned error = 0.05 eV) at the B3LYP/6-31 + G(d,p) level and larger errors with HF or MP2 methods or using Koopmans' Theorem. Comparison of gas-phase free energies with solution-phase reduction potentials provides a measure of solvation energy differences between the radical anion and neutral PAH. A simple Born-charging model approximates the solvation effects on the radical anions, leading to a good correlation with experimental solvation energy differences. This is used to estimate unknown or questionable EAs from reduction potentials. Two independent methods are used to predict DeltaGo(a,298K) values: (1) based upon DFT methods, or (2) based upon reduction potentials and the Born model. They suggest reassignments or a resolution of conflicting experimental EAs for nearly one-half (17 of 38) of the PAH molecules for which experimental EAs have been reported. For the antiaromatic molecules, 1,3,5-tri-tert-butylpentalene and the dithia-substituted cyclobutadiene 1, the reduction potentials lead to estimated EAs close to those expected from DFT calculations and provide a basis for the prediction of the EAs and reduction potentials of pentalene and cyclobutadiene. The Born model has been used to relate the electrostatic solvation energies of PAH and hydrocarbon radical anions, and spherical halide anions, alkali metal cations, and ammonium ions to effective ionic radii from DFT electron-density envelopes. The Born model used for PAHs has been successfully extended here to quantitatively explain the solvation energy of the C60 radical anion.

The development of approaches for simulating rare events in complex molecular systems is a central concern in chemical physics. In recent work, Roux and co-workers proposed a novel, swarms of trajectories (SoT) method for determining the transition paths of such events. It consists of the dynamical refinement on the system's free energy surface of a putative transition path that is parametrized in terms of a set of collective variables (CVs) that are identified as being important for the transition. In this work, we have implemented the SoT method and used it to investigate the catalytic mechanisms of two enzymatic reactions using hybrid QM/MM potentials. Our aim has been to test the performance of SoT for enzyme systems and to devise robust simulation protocols that can be employed in future studies of this type. We identify the conditions under which converged results can be obtained using inertial and Brownian dynamical evolutions of the CVs, show that the inclusion of several CVs can give significant additional insight into the mechanisms of the reactions, and show that the use of minimum energy paths as starting guesses can greatly accelerate path refinement.

This paper examines the energy problem. Specific topics discussed include the recent history of oil and gas consumption in the United States, conservation, coal, solar energy, and nuclear energy. While solutions to the energy problem differ, there is an urgent need for broad, public debate. Ultimately, the decisions made regarding energy will be…

We propose a path-breaking route to the enhancement of unidirectional nonequilibrium simulations for the calculation of free energy differences via Jarzynski's equality [C. Jarzynski, Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 2690 (1997)], 10.1103/PhysRevLett.78.2690. One of the most important limitations of unidirectional nonequilibrium simulations is the amount of realizations necessary to reach suitable convergence of the work exponential average featuring the Jarzynski's relationship. In this respect, a significant improvement of the performances could be obtained by finding a way of stopping trajectories with negligible contribution to the work exponential average, before their normal end. This is achieved using path-breaking schemes which are essentially based on periodic checks of the work dissipated during the pulling trajectories. Such schemes can be based either on breaking trajectories whose dissipated work exceeds a given threshold or on breaking trajectories with a probability increasing with the dissipated work. In both cases, the computer time needed to carry out a series of nonequilibrium trajectories is reduced up to a factor ranging from 2 to more than 10, at least for the processes under consideration in the present study. The efficiency depends on several aspects, such as the type of process, the number of check-points along the pathway and the pulling rate as well. The method is illustrated through radically different processes, i.e., the helix-coil transition of deca-alanine and the pulling of the distance between two methane molecules in water solution.

Many biological species possess a circadian clock, which helps them anticipate daily variations in the environment. In the absence of external stimuli, the rhythm persists autonomously with a period of approximately 24 h. However, single pulses of light, nutrients, chemicals or temperature can shift the clock phase. In the case of light- and temperature-cycles, this allows entrainment of the clock to cycles of exactly 24 h. Circadian clocks have the remarkable property of temperature compensation, that is, the period of the circadian rhythm remains relatively constant within a physiological range of temperatures. For several organisms, temperature-regulated processes within the circadian clock have been identified in recent years. However, how these processes contribute to temperature compensation is not fully understood. Here, we theoretically investigate temperature compensation in general oscillatory systems. It is known that every oscillator can be locally temperature compensated around a reference temperature, if reactions are appropriately balanced. A balancing is always possible if the control coefficient with respect to the oscillation period of at least one reaction in the oscillator network is positive. However, for global temperature compensation, the whole physiological temperature range is relevant. Here, we use an approach which leads to an optimization problem subject to the local balancing principle. We use this approach to analyse different circadian clock models proposed in the literature and calculate activation energies that lead to temperature compensation.

The performance of atomistic calculations using interionic potentials has been examined in detail with respect to the structures and energetic stabilities of ten configurational isomers (i.e., distinct Ce3+/Ce4+ cationic orderings) of a low energy octahedral ceria nanoparticle Ce19O32. The outcome of these calculations is compared with the results of corresponding density-functional (DF) calculations employing local and gradient corrected functionals with an additional corrective onsite Coulombic interaction applied to the f-electrons (i.e., LDA+U and GGA+U, respectively). Strikingly similar relative energy ordering of the isomers and atomic scale structural trends (e.g., cation-cation distances) are obtained in both the DF and interionic-potentialcalculations. The surprisingly good agreement between the DF electronic structure calculations and the relatively simple classical potentials is not found to be due to a single dominant interaction type but is due to a sensitive balance between long range electrostatics and local bonding contributions to the energy. Considering the relatively high computational cost and technical difficulty involved in obtaining charge-localized electronic solutions for reduced ceria using DF calculations, the use of interionic potentials for rapid and reliable preselection of the most stable Ce3+/Ce4+ cationic orderings is of considerable benefit.

A three-parameter expression that gives an accurate fit to diatomic potential curves over the entire range of separation for charge transfers between 0 and 1. It is based on a generalization of the universal binding-energy relation of Smith et al. (1989) with a modification that describes the crossover from a partially ionic state to the neutral state at large separations. The expression is tested by comparison with first-principles calculations of the potential curves ranging from covalently bonded to ionically bonded. The expression is also used to calculate spectroscopic constants form a curve fit to the first-principles curves. A comparison is made with experimental values of the spectroscopic constants.

A new global potentialenergy surface (PES) is being generated for O(P-3) + H2 yields OH + H. This surface is being fit using the rotated Morse oscillator method, which was used to fit the previous POL-CI surface. The new surface is expected to be more accurate and also includes a much more complete sampling of bent geometries. A new study has been undertaken of the reaction N + O2 yields NO + O. The new studies have focused on the region of the surface near a possible minimum corresponding to the peroxy form of NOO. A large portion of the PES for this second reaction has been mapped out. Since state to state cross sections for the reaction are important in the chemistry of high temperature air, these studies will probably be extended to permit generation of a new global potential for reaction.

A quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical minimum free energy path (QM/MM-MFEP) method was developed to calculate the redox free energies of large systems in solution with greatly enhanced efficiency for conformation sampling. The QM/MM-MFEP method describes the thermodynamics of a system on the potential of mean force surface of the solute degrees of freedom. The molecular dynamics (MD) sampling is only carried out with the QM subsystem fixed. It thus avoids 'on-the-fly' QM calculations and thus overcomes the high computational cost in the direct QM/MM MD sampling. In the applications to two metal complexes in aqueous solution, the new QM/MM-MFEP method yielded redox free energies in good agreement with those calculated from the direct QM/MM MD method. Two larger biologically important redox molecules, lumichrome and riboflavin, were further investigated to demonstrate the efficiency of the method. The enhanced efficiency and uncompromised accuracy are especially significant for biochemical systems. The QM/MM-MFEP method thus provides an efficient approach to free energy simulation of complex electron transfer reactions.

The evaluation of the free energy is essential in molecular simulation because it is intimately related with the existence of multiphase equilibrium. Recently, it was demonstrated that it is possible to evaluate the Helmholtz free energy using a single statistical ensemble along an entire isotherm by accounting for the "chemical work" of transforming each molecule, from an interacting one, to an ideal gas. In this work, we show that it is possible to perform such a free energy perturbation over a liquid vapor phase transition. Furthermore, we investigate the link between a general free energy perturbation scheme and the novel nonequilibrium theories of Crook's and Jarzinsky. We find that for finite systems away from the thermodynamic limit the second law of thermodynamics will always be an inequality for isothermal free energy perturbations, resulting always to a dissipated work that may tend to zero only in the thermodynamic limit. The work, the heat, and the entropy produced during a thermodynamic free energy perturbation can be viewed in the context of the Crooks and Jarzinsky formalism, revealing that for a given value of the ensemble average of the "irreversible" work, the minimum entropy production corresponded to a Gaussian distribution for the histogram of the work. We propose the evaluation of the free energy difference in any free energy perturbation based scheme on the average irreversible "chemical work" minus the dissipated work that can be calculated from the variance of the distribution of the logarithm of the work histogram, within the Gaussian approximation. As a consequence, using the Gaussian ansatz for the distribution of the "chemical work," accurate estimates for the chemical potential and the free energy of the system can be performed using much shorter simulations and avoiding the necessity of sampling the computational costly tails of the "chemical work." For a more general free energy perturbation scheme that the Gaussian ansatz may not be

The binding energy of the {Lambda}{Lambda} hypernucleus {sub {Lambda}{Lambda}}{sup 31}Si has been calculated variationally with a {sup 28}Si+{ital n}+{Lambda}+{Lambda} four-body model. The integrations have been carried out with the help of a Monte Carlo technique. Three different types of {Lambda}-{Lambda} and {Lambda}-{ital N} potentials have been used. {ital n}-{sup 28}Si and {Lambda}-{sup 28}Si potentials have been generated by folding the {ital N}-{ital N} and {Lambda}-{ital N} potentials into the harmonic-oscillator shell-model density distribution of {sup 28}Si. The calculated values of the binding energy for the three different potentials are 40.19, 46.30, and 39.90 MeV. These values are compared with the reported experimental value of 38.2{plus minus}6.3 MeV. The dependence of the binding energy on the depth of the {Lambda}-{Lambda} interaction has also been investigated.

A method for photon beam dose calculations is described. The primary photon beam is raytraced through the patient, and the distribution of total radiant energy released into the patient is calculated. Polyenergetic energy deposition kernels are calculated from the spectrum of the beam, using a database of monoenergetic kernels. It is shown that the polyenergetic kernels can be analytically described with high precision by (A exp( -ar) + B exp( -br)/r2, where A, a, B, and b depend on the angle with respect to the impinging photons and the accelerating potential, and r is the radial distance. Numerical values of A, a, B, and b are derived and used to convolve energy deposition kernels with the total energy released per unit mass (TERMA) to yield dose distributions. The convolution is facilitated by the introduction of the collapsed cone approximation. In this approximation, all energy released into coaxial cones of equal solid angle, from volume elements on the cone axis, is rectilinearly transported, attenuated, and deposited in elements on the axis. Scaling of the kernels is implicitly done during the convolution procedure to fully account for inhomogeneities present in the irradiated volume. The number of computational operations needed to compute the dose with the method is proportional to the number of calculation points. The method is tested for five accelerating potentials; 4, 6, 10, 15, and 24 MV, and applied to two geometries; one is a stack of slabs of tissue media, and the other is a mediastinum-like phantom of cork and water. In these geometries, the EGS4 Monte Carlo system has been used to generate reference dose distributions with which the dose computed with the collapsed cone convolution method is compared. Generally, the agreement between the methods is excellent. Deviations are observed in situations of lateral charged particle disequilibrium in low density media, however, but the result is superior compared to that of the generalized Batho method.

The structures of nanoparticles, macromolecules, and molecular clusters in gas phase environments are often studied via measurement of collision cross sections. To directly compare structure models to measurements, it is hence necessary to have computational techniques available to calculate the collision cross sections of structural models under conditions matching measurements. However, presently available collision cross section methods contain the underlying assumption that collision between gas molecules and structures are completely elastic (gas molecule translational energy conserving) and specular, while experimental evidence suggests that in the most commonly used background gases for measurements, air and molecular nitrogen, gas molecule reemission is largely inelastic (with exchange of energy between vibrational, rotational, and translational modes) and should be treated as diffuse in computations with fixed structural models. In this work, we describe computational techniques to predict the free molecular collision cross sections for fixed structural models of gas phase entities where inelastic and non-specular gas molecule reemission rules can be invoked, and the long range ion-induced dipole (polarization) potential between gas molecules and a charged entity can be considered. Specifically, two calculation procedures are described detail: a diffuse hard sphere scattering (DHSS) method, in which structures are modeled as hard spheres and collision cross sections are calculated for rectilinear trajectories of gas molecules, and a diffuse trajectory method (DTM), in which the assumption of rectilinear trajectories is relaxed and the ion-induced dipole potential is considered. Collision cross section calculations using the DHSS and DTM methods are performed on spheres, models of quasifractal aggregates of varying fractal dimension, and fullerene like structures. Techniques to accelerate DTM calculations by assessing the contribution of grazing gas

The activation energies for diffusion were determined for gold, platinum and iridium adatoms on plane and plane PT surfaces and were found to be in good agreement with the measurements reported by Bassett and Webber. The Lennard-Jones pair potentials were used to model the interatomic forces, and relaxation of the substrate atoms in near proximity to the adatom was considered in detail. The present calculations clarify the mechanism of the observed two-dimensional diffusion of platinum and iridium atoms on a plane PT surface. The results are compared with those obtained using Morse potential functions and different relaxation techniques.

Free energy simulations are an established computational tool in modelling chemical change in the condensed phase. However, sampling of kinetically distinct substates remains a challenge to these approaches. As a route to addressing this, we link the methods of thermodynamic integration (TI) and swarm-enhanced sampling molecular dynamics (sesMD), where simulation replicas interact cooperatively to aid transitions over energy barriers. We illustrate the approach by using alchemical alkane transformations in solution, comparing them with the multiple independent trajectory TI (IT-TI) method. Free energy changes for transitions computed by using IT-TI grew increasingly inaccurate as the intramolecular barrier was heightened. By contrast, swarm-enhanced sampling TI (sesTI) calculations showed clear improvements in sampling efficiency, leading to more accurate computed free energy differences, even in the case of the highest barrier height. The sesTI approach, therefore, has potential in addressing chemical change in systems where conformations exist in slow exchange.

We investigate the structure of the potentialenergy surfaces of the superheavy nuclei {sub 158}{sup 258}Fm{sub 100}, {sub 156}{sup 264}Hs{sub 108}, {sub 166}{sup 278}112, {sub 184}{sup 298}114, and {sub 172}{sup 292}120 within the framework of self-consistent nuclear models, i.e., the Skyrme-Hartree-Fock approach and the relativistic mean-field model. We compare results obtained with one representative parametrization of each model which is successful in describing superheavy nuclei. We find systematic changes as compared to the potentialenergy surfaces of heavy nuclei in the uranium region: there is no sufficiently stable fission isomer any more, the importance of triaxial configurations to lower the first barrier fades away, and asymmetric fission paths compete down to rather small deformation. Comparing the two models, it turns out that the relativistic mean-field model gives generally smaller fission barriers. {copyright} {ital 1998} {ital The American Physical Society}

The ionization potential (IP) and electron affinity (EA) of the isolated single dye molecule and a hypothetical isolated J-aggregated dimer are calculated as an energy difference between separately minimized ground and ionized states. Three quantum methods are employed: density functional theory (DFT) Gaussian03 B3LYP/6-311G** (++G**); DFT using Dmol(3); and a modification of CNDO/S, called CNDO/S-Deltazeta, which is developed for rapid calculation of the IP and EA. Results indicate that for the monomer, 1,1'-dimethyl-2,2'carbocyanine chloride, the vertical IP and EA are 6.2 +/- 0.1 and 1.90 +/- 0.05 eV, respectively. This is consistent with the threshold IP and EA predicted by the Yianoulis and Nelson "Statistical Model" of spectral sensitization. For the isolated J-aggregated dimer, whose configuration is consistent with being adsorbed on a dielectric substrate, the calculations predict a value of 5.2 +/- 0.2 and 2.35 +/- 0.05 eV for the IP and EA, respectively. Significant charge density is removed from the halide anion in the ionization process. The HOMO of the dye molecule is an MO associated with the halide anion. Calculation of the isolated entities is a necessary preliminary step in the study of the IP and EA of the adsorbed dye monomer and aggregate.

A transition charge, dipole, and quadrupole from electrostatic potential (TrESP-CDQ) method for electronic coupling calculations is proposed. The TrESP method is based on the classical description of electronic Coulomb interaction between transition densities for individual molecules. In the original TrESP method, only the transition charge interactions were considered as the electronic coupling. In the present study, the TrESP method is extended to include the contributions from the transition dipoles and quadrupoles as well as the transition charges. Hence, the self-consistent transition density is employed in the ESP fitting procedure. To check the accuracy of the present approach, several test calculations are performed to a helium dimer, a methane dimer, and an ethylene dimer. As a result, the TrESP-CDQ method gives a much improved description of the electronic coupling, compared with the original TrESP method. The calculated results also show that the self-consistent treatment to the transition densities contributes significantly to the accuracy of the electronic coupling calculations. Based on the successful description of the electronic coupling, the contributions to the electronic coupling are also analyzed. This analysis clearly shows a negligible contribution of the transition charge interaction to the electronic coupling. Hence, the distribution of the transition density is found to strongly influence the magnitudes of the transition charges, dipoles, and quadrupoles. The present approach is useful for analyzing and understanding the mechanism of excitation-energy transfer.

In the area of computational acoustics, procedures which accurately predict the far-field sound radiation are much sought after. A systematic development of such procedures are found in a sequence of papers by Atassi. The method presented here is an alternate approach to predicting far field sound based on simple layer potential theoretic methods. The main advantages of this method are: it requires only a simple free space Green's function, it can accommodate arbitrary shapes of Kirchoff surfaces, and is readily extendable to three-dimensional problems. Moreover, the procedure presented here, though tested for unsteady lifting airfoil problems, can easily be adapted to other areas of interest, such as jet noise radiation problems. Results are presented for lifting airfoil problems and comparisons are made with the results reported by Atassi. Direct comparisons are also made for the flat plate case.

Geothermal energypotential of Turkey is well known. There are lots of hot springs with over 30° C water temperatures. However, the significance of these geothermal energypotential of Turkey is not adequately understood. We believe that the main reason for this; is the lack of exploration methods and tools in a wide area as large as Turkey. We exploited a well known physical property of rocks to estimate the geothermal energypotential. Physically, substances lose their magnetization above a temperature known as the Curie that is the 580° C for magnetite. Properties of the Curie temperature have been exploited to observe the bottom depth of the magnetization. That is the depth where the heat reaches to 580° C. In another word, there is no magnetization below this depth. In normal crust this depth is about 22-24 km. Thus, investigation of the bottom depth of magnetization by using aeromagnetic anomalies can lead to information that if there are any anomalous regions well above the normal crust. The aeromagnetic anomalies of whole of Turkey were surveyed by the Mineral Research and Exploration (MTA) of Turkey. The survey was completed during late 1980's. Five kilometers grid data were available and used for regional exploration purposes. Exploration of the geothermal energypotential of Turkey was done from west to east in the similar way to search for shallow high temperature regions. These are from west to east; i.) Western Turkey: Two major shallow depth regions were determined at the west of Kutahya and the north-east of Denizli. The Curie Point Depths (CPDs) were calculated as about 7 km and about 9 km in Kutahya and Denizli, respectively. Also, high heat flow values and crustal thinning (about 32 km from gravity anomalies of western Turkey) were calculated for western Turkey. ii.) Central Turkey: A CPD depth of 8 km was calculated. This gives us a temperature gradient of 0.073° C/m. Geothermal energypotential was studied using water chemistry and isotopic

We construct thermodynamic potentials for two superionic phases of water [with body-centered cubic (bcc) and face-centered cubic (fcc) oxygen lattice] using a combination of density functional theory (DFT) and molecular dynamics simulations (MD). For this purpose, a generic expression for the free energy of warm dense matter is developed and parametrized with equation of state data from the DFT-MD simulations. A second central aspect is the accurate determination of the entropy, which is done using an approximate two-phase method based on the frequency spectra of the nuclear motion. The boundary between the bcc superionic phase and the ices VII andmore » X calculated with thermodynamic potentials from DFT-MD is consistent with that directly derived from the simulations. As a result, differences in the physical properties of the bcc and fcc superionic phases and their impact on interior modeling of water-rich giant planets are discussed.« less

We construct thermodynamic potentials for two superionic phases of water [with body-centered cubic (bcc) and face-centered cubic (fcc) oxygen lattice] using a combination of density functional theory (DFT) and molecular dynamics simulations (MD). For this purpose, a generic expression for the free energy of warm dense matter is developed and parametrized with equation of state data from the DFT-MD simulations. A second central aspect is the accurate determination of the entropy, which is done using an approximate two-phase method based on the frequency spectra of the nuclear motion. The boundary between the bcc superionic phase and the ices VII and X calculated with thermodynamic potentials from DFT-MD is consistent with that directly derived from the simulations. As a result, differences in the physical properties of the bcc and fcc superionic phases and their impact on interior modeling of water-rich giant planets are discussed.

We construct thermodynamic potentials for two superionic phases of water [with body-centered cubic (bcc) and face-centered cubic (fcc) oxygen lattice] using a combination of density functional theory (DFT) and molecular dynamics simulations (MD). For this purpose, a generic expression for the free energy of warm dense matter is developed and parametrized with equation of state data from the DFT-MD simulations. A second central aspect is the accurate determination of the entropy, which is done using an approximate two-phase method based on the frequency spectra of the nuclear motion. The boundary between the bcc superionic phase and the ices VII and X calculated with thermodynamic potentials from DFT-MD is consistent with that directly derived from the simulations. Differences in the physical properties of the bcc and fcc superionic phases and their impact on interior modeling of water-rich giant planets are discussed.

Improving the efficiency of free energycalculations is important for many biological and materials design applications, such as protein-ligand binding affinities in drug design, partitioning between immiscible liquids, and determining molecular association in soft materials. We show that for any pair potential, moderately accurate estimation of the radial distribution function for a solute molecule is sufficient to accurately estimate the statistical variance of a sampling along a free energy pathway. This allows inexpensive analytical identification of low statistical error free energy pathways. We employ a variety of methods to estimate the radial distribution function (RDF) and find that the computationally cheap two-body "dilute gas" limit performs as well or better than 3D-RISM theory and other approximations for identifying low variance free energy pathways. With a RDF estimate in hand, we can search for pairwise interaction potentials that produce low variance. We give an example of a search minimizing statistical variance of solvation free energy over the entire parameter space of a generalized "soft core" potential. The free energy pathway arising from this optimization procedure has lower curvature in the variance and reduces the total variance by at least 50% compared to the traditional soft core solvation pathway. We also demonstrate that this optimized pathway allows free energies to be estimated with fewer intermediate states due to its low curvature. This free energy variance optimization technique is generalizable to solvation in any homogeneous fluid and for any type of pairwise potential and can be performed in minutes to hours, depending on the method used to estimate g(r).

Autoionization of molecular systems occurs in diatomic molecules and in small biochemical systems. Quantum chemistry packages enable calculation of complex potentialenergy surfaces (CPESs). The imaginary part of the CPES is associated with the autoionization decay rate, which is a function of the molecular structure. Molecular dynamics simulations, within the framework of the Born-Oppenheimer approximation, require the definition of a force field. The ability to calculate the forces on the nuclei in bio-systems when autoionization takes place seems to rely on an understanding of radiative damages in RNA and DNA arising from the release of slow moving electrons which have long de Broglie wavelengths. This work addresses calculation of the real forces on the nuclei moving on the CPES. By using the transformation of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation, previously used by Madelung, we proved that the classical forces on nuclei moving on the CPES correlated with the gradient of the real part of the CPES. It was proved that the force on the nuclei of the metastable molecules is time independent although the probability to detect metastable molecules exponentially decays. The classical force is obtained from the transformed Schrödinger equation when ℏ=0 and the Schrödinger equation is reduced to the classical (Newtonian) equations of motion. The forces on the nuclei regardless on what potentialenergy surface they move (parent CPES or product real PESs) vary in time due to the autoionization process.

The torsional energy levels of CH3OH(+), CH3OD(+), and CD3OD(+) have been determined for the first time using one-photon zero kinetic energy photoelectron spectroscopy. The adiabatic ionization energies for CH3OH, CH3OD, and CD3OD are determined as 10.8396, 10.8455, and 10.8732 eV with uncertainties of 0.0005 eV, respectively. Theoretical calculations have also been performed to obtain the torsional energy levels for the three isotopologues using a one-dimensional model with approximate zero-point energy corrections of the torsional potentialenergy curves. The calculated values are in good agreement with the experimental data. The barrier height of the torsional potentialenergy without zero-point energy correction was calculated as 157 cm(-1), which is about half of that of the neutral (340 cm(-1)). The calculations showed that the cation has eclipsed conformation at the energy minimum and staggered one at the saddle point, which is the opposite of what is observed in the neutral molecule. The fundamental C-O stretch vibrational energy level for CD3OD(+) has also been determined. The energy levels for the combinational excitation of the torsional vibration and the fundamental C-O stretch vibration indicate a strong torsion-vibration coupling.

A method is described for calculating the energetics of planar defects in alloys based on the special-quasirandom-structure (SQS) approach. We examine the accuracy of the approach employing atomistic calculations based on a classical embedded-atom-method (EAM) interatomic potential for hexagonal close packed (hcp) alloys, for which benchmark results can be obtained by direct configurational averaging. The results of these calculations demonstrate that the SQS-based approach can be employed to derive the concentration dependence of the energies of twin boundaries, unstable stacking faults, and surfaces to within an accuracy of approximately 10%. The SQS considered in this study contain up to 72 atoms and hence are small enough to be considered in first-principles density-functional-theory (DFT) based calculations. The application of the SQS-based approach in direct DFT-based calculations is demonstrated in a study of the concentration dependence of interfacial energies for {11 2 ¯1 } twins in hcp Ti-Al alloys.

We present an improved version of our “path-by-path” enhanced same path extrapolation scheme for Feynman path integral (FPI) calculations that permits rapid convergence with discretization errors ranging from O(P{sup −6}) to O(P{sup −12}), where P is the number of path discretization points. We also present two extensions of our importance sampling and stratified sampling schemes for calculating vibrational–rotational partition functions by the FPI method. The first is the use of importance functions for dihedral angles between sets of generalized Jacobi coordinate vectors. The second is an extension of our stratification scheme to allow some strata to be defined based only on coordinate information while other strata are defined based on both the geometry and the energy of the centroid of the Feynman path. These enhanced methods are applied to calculate converged partition functions by FPI methods, and these results are compared to ones obtained earlier by vibrational configuration interaction (VCI) calculations, both calculations being for the Jordan–Gilbert potentialenergy surface. The earlier VCI calculations are found to agree well (within ∼1.5%) with the new benchmarks. The FPI partition functions presented here are estimated to be converged to within a 2σ statistical uncertainty of between 0.04% and 0.07% for the given potentialenergy surface for temperatures in the range 300–3000 K and are the most accurately converged partition functions for a given potentialenergy surface for any molecule with five or more atoms. We also tabulate free energies, enthalpies, entropies, and heat capacities.

We present an improved version of our "path-by-path" enhanced same path extrapolation scheme for Feynman path integral (FPI) calculations that permits rapid convergence with discretization errors ranging from O(P(-6)) to O(P(-12)), where P is the number of path discretization points. We also present two extensions of our importance sampling and stratified sampling schemes for calculating vibrational-rotational partition functions by the FPI method. The first is the use of importance functions for dihedral angles between sets of generalized Jacobi coordinate vectors. The second is an extension of our stratification scheme to allow some strata to be defined based only on coordinate information while other strata are defined based on both the geometry and the energy of the centroid of the Feynman path. These enhanced methods are applied to calculate converged partition functions by FPI methods, and these results are compared to ones obtained earlier by vibrational configuration interaction (VCI) calculations, both calculations being for the Jordan-Gilbert potentialenergy surface. The earlier VCI calculations are found to agree well (within ∼1.5%) with the new benchmarks. The FPI partition functions presented here are estimated to be converged to within a 2σ statistical uncertainty of between 0.04% and 0.07% for the given potentialenergy surface for temperatures in the range 300-3000 K and are the most accurately converged partition functions for a given potentialenergy surface for any molecule with five or more atoms. We also tabulate free energies, enthalpies, entropies, and heat capacities.

A QED approach to the calculation of the spectra of the lithium isoelectronic sequence is implemented. A modified Furry representation based on the Kohn-Sham potential is used to evaluate all one- and two-photon diagrams with the exception of the two-loop Lamb shift. Three-photon diagrams are estimated with Hamiltonian methods. After incorporating recent calculations of the two-loop Lamb shift and recoil corrections a comprehensive tabulation of the 2s, 2p{sub 1/2} and 2p{sub 3/2} energy levels as well as the 2s - 2p{sub 1/2} and 2s - 2p{sub 3/2} transition energies for Z = 10 - 100 is presented.

The ratios of partition functions at different temperatures are calculated and its dependence on potentialenergy shape is analyzed. The role of anharmonicity and non-rigidity of rotations is discussed in the context of the angular frequency and the shape of potentialenergy curve. A role of inflection point of potentialenergy curve for the quality of rigid rotor harmonic oscillator and rigid rotor Morse oscillator is elucidated.

We discuss properties of the interaction of slow neutrons with nano-dispersed media and their application for neutron reflectors. In order to increase the accuracy of model simulation of the interaction of neutrons with nanopowders, we perform precise quantum mechanical calculation of potential scattering of neutrons on single nanoparticles using the method of phase functions. We compare results of precise calculations with those performed within first Born approximation for nanodiamonds with the radius of 2–5 nm and for neutron energies 3 × 10{sup -7}–10{sup -3} eV. Born approximation overestimates the probability of scattering to large angles, while the accuracy of evaluation of integral characteristics (cross sections, albedo) is acceptable. Using Monte-Carlo method, we calculate albedo of neutrons from different layers of piled up diamond nanopowder.

We discuss properties of the interaction of slow neutrons with nano-dispersed media and their application for neutron reflectors. In order to increase the accuracy of model simulation of the interaction of neutrons with nanopowders, we perform precise quantum mechanical calculation of potential scattering of neutrons on single nanoparticles using the method of phase functions. We compare results of precise calculations with those performed within first Born approximation for nanodiamonds with the radius of 2-5 nm and for neutron energies 3 × 10-7-10-3 eV. Born approximation overestimates the probability of scattering to large angles, while the accuracy of evaluation of integral characteristics (cross sections, albedo) is acceptable. Using Monte-Carlo method, we calculate albedo of neutrons from different layers of piled up diamond nanopowder.

We present a nucleon elastic scattering calculation based on Green's function formalism in the random-phase approximation. For the first time, the finite-range Gogny effective interaction is used consistently throughout the whole calculation to account for the complex, nonlocal, and energy-dependent optical potential. Effects of intermediate single-particle resonances are included and found to play a crucial role in the account for measured reaction cross sections. Double counting of the particle-hole second-order contribution is carefully addressed. The resulting integro-differential Schrödinger equation for the scattering process is solved without localization procedures. The method is applied to neutron and proton elastic scattering from 40Ca. A successful account for differential and integral cross sections, including analyzing powers, is obtained for incident energies up to 30 MeV. Discrepancies at higher energies are related to a much-too-high volume integral of the real potential for large partial waves. This work opens the way to simultaneously assess effective interactions suitable for both nuclear structure and reactions.

A six-dimensional potentialenergy hypersurface (PES) for two interacting rigid ethylene oxide (C2H4O) molecules was determined from high-level quantum-chemical ab initio calculations. The counterpoise-corrected supermolecular approach at the MP2 and CCSD(T) levels of theory was utilized to determine interaction energies for 10178 configurations of two molecules. An analytical site-site potential function with 19 sites per ethylene oxide molecule was fitted to the interaction energies and fine tuned to agree with data for the second acoustic virial coefficient from accurate speed of sound measurements. The PES was validated by computing the second virial coefficient, shear viscosity, and thermal conductivity. The values of these properties are substantiated by the best experimental data as they tend to fall within the uncertainty intervals and also obey the experimental temperature functions, except for viscosity, where experimental data are insufficient. Due to the lack of reliable data, especially for the transport properties, our calculated values are currently the most accurate estimates for these properties of ethylene oxide.

A six-dimensional potentialenergy hypersurface (PES) for two interacting rigid ethylene oxide (C{sub 2}H{sub 4}O) molecules was determined from high-level quantum-chemical ab initio calculations. The counterpoise-corrected supermolecular approach at the MP2 and CCSD(T) levels of theory was utilized to determine interaction energies for 10178 configurations of two molecules. An analytical site-site potential function with 19 sites per ethylene oxide molecule was fitted to the interaction energies and fine tuned to agree with data for the second acoustic virial coefficient from accurate speed of sound measurements. The PES was validated by computing the second virial coefficient, shear viscosity, and thermal conductivity. The values of these properties are substantiated by the best experimental data as they tend to fall within the uncertainty intervals and also obey the experimental temperature functions, except for viscosity, where experimental data are insufficient. Due to the lack of reliable data, especially for the transport properties, our calculated values are currently the most accurate estimates for these properties of ethylene oxide.

Today's 85 million U.S. homes use 100 billion of fuel and electricity (1150/home). If their energy intensity (resource energy/ft2) were still frozen at 1973 levels, they would use 18% more. With well-insulated houses, need for space heat is vanishing. Superinsulated Saskatchewan homes spend annually only 270 for space heat, 150 for water heat, and 400 for appliances, yet they cost only 2000±1000 more than conventional new homes. The concept of Cost of Conserved Energy (CCE) is used to rank conservation technologies for existing and new homes and appliances, and to develop supply curves of conserved energy and a least cost scenario. Calculations are calibrated with the BECA and other data bases. By limiting investments in efficiency to those whose CCE is less than current fuel and electricity prices, the potential residential plus commercial energy use in 2000 AD drops to half of that estimated by DOE, and the number of power plants needed drops by 200. For the whole buildings sector, potential savings by 2000 are 8 Mbod (worth 50B/year), at an average CCE of 10/barrel.

The close-coupling method is used to calculate purely rotational relaxation rates and pressure broadening and shifting coefficients for H2-He collisions, in order to test various potentialenergy surfaces. Downward rate coefficients k3→1(T) and k2→0(T) are compared with experimental data, but the subtle differences in the potentialenergy surfaces are hardly reflected in these rates. Helium pressure broadening and shifting generalized cross sections for the isotropic Raman Q(1) lines of the fundamental bands of D2 and H2 as well as the purely rotational Stokes S0(1) line of H2 are therefore also considered. While these spectroscopic characteristics are much more sensitive to the precise form of the interaction potential, a proper validation cannot be performed without taking into account the influence of the translational motion on the molecular line shapes. After including this, it is found that the potentialenergy surface of Bakr, Smith and Patkowski [B.W. Bakr, D.G.A. Smith, K. Patkowski, J. Chem. Phys. 139, 144305 (2013)] allows the best reproduction of the experimental data.

Vertical ionization energies of the nucleosides cytidine and deoxythymidine in water, the lowest ones amounting in both cases to 8.3 eV, are obtained from photoelectron spectroscopy measurements in aqueous microjets. Ab initio calculations employing a nonequilibrium polarizable continuum model quantitatively reproduce the experimental spectra and provide molecular interpretation of the individual peaks of the photoelectron spectrum, showing also that lowest ionization originates from the base. Comparison of calculated vertical ionization potentials of pyrimidine bases, nucleosides, and nucleotides in water and in the gas phase underlines the dramatic effect of bulk hydration on the electronic structure. In the gas phase, the presence of sugar and, in particular, of phosphate has a strong effect on the energetics of ionization of the base. Upon bulk hydration, the ionization potential of the base in contrast becomes rather insensitive to the presence of the sugar and phosphate, which indicates a remarkable screening ability of the aqueous solvent. Accurate aqueous-phase vertical ionization potentials provide a significant improvement to the corrected gas-phase values used in the literature and represent important information in assessing the threshold energies for photooxidation and oxidation free energies of solvent-exposed DNA components. Likewise, such energetic data should allow improved assessment of delocalization and charge-hopping mechanisms in DNA ionized by radiation.

Spectroscopic constants and potentialenergy curves of 21 electronic states of the diatomic TaH are computed using complete active space multiconfiguration self-consistent field (CASSCF) followed by second-order configuration interaction (SOCI) calculations. In addition spin-orbit effects were included using the relativistic configuration interaction method (RCI). The ground state of TaH was found to be a 0 + state, which is a mixture of 5Δ(0 +), 5Π(0 +), 3Σ -(0 +), and 3Π(0 +). The spin-orbit effects were found to be significant for TaH. Several spectroscopic transitions are predicted for TaH none of which is observed.

The simple and tractable representation for the LS-multiplet energy in l1l2-configuration in an atom is derived in the form of the polynomials being a function of l1\\cdotl2 which obey the recurrence formulae, and is suitable for the vector model. Moreover, it is extended to ln configurations. On a basis of the model, the definition of the orbital polarization energy is given. The more precise expressions of the energies compared to those so far proposed by Eriksson et al. are derived for the maximal spin multiplets in pn, dn, and fn. They are composed of two terms depending on -3L2/2 and n(n-2l-1). They are the exact for pn and dn, but it for fn is correct only for a ground multiplet. Other expressions are also derived as a function of L2 for fn, though more complicated. For the actual atomic and band structure calculations based on local-spin-density-approximation (LSDA), the modified expression for the energy is proposed. The potential is derived from its expression in terms of the density functional theory, and can be applied to their structure calculations.

Free energycalculations are used to study how strongly potential drug molecules interact with their target receptors. The accuracy of these calculations depends on the accuracy of the molecular dynamics (MD) force field as well as proper sampling of the major conformations of each molecule. However, proper sampling of ligand conformations can be difficult when there are large barriers separating the major ligand conformations. An example of this is for ligands with an asymmetrically substituted phenyl ring, where the presence of protein loops hinders the proper sampling of the different ring conformations. These ring conformations become more difficult to sample when the size of the functional groups attached to the ring increases. The Adaptive Integration Method (AIM) has been developed, which adaptively changes the alchemical coupling parameter λ during the MD simulation so that conformations sampled at one λ can aid sampling at the other λ values. The Accelerated Adaptive Integration Method (AcclAIM) builds on AIM by lowering potential barriers for specific degrees of freedom at intermediate λ values. However, these methods may not work when there are very large barriers separating the major ligand conformations. In this work, we describe a modification to AIM that improves sampling of the different ring conformations, even when there is a very large barrier between them. This method combines AIM with conformational Monte Carlo sampling, giving improved convergence of ring populations and the resulting free energy. This method, called AIM/MC, is applied to study the relative binding free energy for a pair of ligands that bind to thrombin and a different pair of ligands that bind to aspartyl protease β-APP cleaving enzyme 1 (BACE1). These protein–ligand binding free energycalculations illustrate the improvements in conformational sampling and the convergence of the free energy compared to both AIM and AcclAIM. PMID:25906170

This report contains material displayed on poster panels during the Conference. The purpose of the contribution was to present a summary of the business overview of thermophotovoltaic generation of electricity and its market potential. The market analysis has shown that the TPV market, while currently still in an early nucleation phase, is evolving into a range of small niche markets out of which larger-size opportunities can emerge. Early commercial applications on yachts and recreational vehicles which require a quiet and emission-free compact electrical generator fit the current TPV technology and economics. Follow-on residential applications are attractive since they can combine generation of electricity with space and hot water heating in a co-generation system. Development of future markets in transportation, both private and communal or industrial, will be driven by legislation requiring emission-free vehicles, and by a reduction in TPV systems cost. As a result of {open_quote}{open_quote}moving down the learning curve,{close_quote}{close_quote} growing power and consumer markets are predicted to come into reach of TPV systems, a development favored by high overall energy conversion efficiency due to high radiation energy density and to high electric conversion efficiency available with photovoltaic cells. {copyright} {ital 1996 American Institute of Physics.}

In the current work by using statistical methods and available software, the wind energy assessment of prone regions for installation of wind turbines in, Qorveh, has been investigated. Information was obtained from weather stations of Baneh, Bijar, Zarina, Saqez, Sanandaj, Qorveh, and Marivan. The monthly average and maximum of wind speed were investigated between the years 2000-2010 and the related curves were drawn. The Golobad curve (direction and percentage of dominant wind and calm wind as monthly rate) between the years 1997-2000 was analyzed and drawn with plot software. The ten-minute speed (at 10, 30, and 60 m height) and direction (at 37.5 and 10 m height) wind data were collected from weather stations of Iranian new energy organization. The wind speed distribution during one year was evaluated by using Weibull probability density function (two-parametrical), and the Weibull curve histograms were drawn by MATLAB software. According to the average wind speed of stations and technical specifications of the types of turbines, the suitable wind turbine for the station was selected. Finally, the Divandareh and Qorveh sites with favorable potential were considered for installation of wind turbines and construction of wind farms.

This report contains material displayed on poster panels during the Conference. The purpose of the contribution was to present a summary of the business overview of thermophotovoltaic generation of electricity and its market potential. The market analysis has shown that the TPV market, while currently still in an early nucleation phase, is evolving into a range of small niche markets out of which larger-size opportunities can emerge. Early commercial applications on yachts and recreational vehicles which require a quiet and emission-free compact electrical generator fit the current TPV technology and economics. Follow-on residential applications are attractive since they can combine generation of electricity with space and hot water heating in a co-generation system. Development of future markets in transportation, both private and communal or industrial, will be driven by legislation requiring emission-free vehicles, and by a reduction in TPV systems cost. As a result of ``moving down the learning curve,'' growing power and consumer markets are predicted to come into reach of TPV systems, a development favored by high overall energy conversion efficiency due to high radiation energy density and to high electric conversion efficiency available with photovoltaic cells.

In the current work by using statistical methods and available software, the wind energy assessment of prone regions for installation of wind turbines in, Qorveh, has been investigated. Information was obtained from weather stations of Baneh, Bijar, Zarina, Saqez, Sanandaj, Qorveh, and Marivan. The monthly average and maximum of wind speed were investigated between the years 2000–2010 and the related curves were drawn. The Golobad curve (direction and percentage of dominant wind and calm wind as monthly rate) between the years 1997–2000 was analyzed and drawn with plot software. The ten-minute speed (at 10, 30, and 60 m height) and direction (at 37.5 and 10 m height) wind data were collected from weather stations of Iranian new energy organization. The wind speed distribution during one year was evaluated by using Weibull probability density function (two-parametrical), and the Weibull curve histograms were drawn by MATLAB software. According to the average wind speed of stations and technical specifications of the types of turbines, the suitable wind turbine for the station was selected. Finally, the Divandareh and Qorveh sites with favorable potential were considered for installation of wind turbines and construction of wind farms. PMID:27355042

In energy decomposition analysis (EDA) of intermolecular interactions calculated via density functional theory, the initial supersystem wavefunction defines the so-called "frozen energy" including contributions such as permanent electrostatics, steric repulsions, and dispersion. This work explores the consequences of the choices that must be made to define the frozen energy. The critical choice is whether the energy should be minimized subject to the constraint of fixed density. Numerical results for Ne2, (H2O)2, BH3-NH3, and ethane dissociation show that there can be a large energy lowering associated with constant density orbital relaxation. By far the most important contribution is constant density inter-fragment relaxation, corresponding to charge transfer (CT). This is unwanted in an EDA that attempts to separate CT effects, but it may be useful in other contexts such as force field development. An algorithm is presented for minimizing single determinant energies at constant density both with and without CT by employing a penalty function that approximately enforces the density constraint.

In this study, we develop an updated global estimate of onshore wind energypotential using reanalysis wind speed data, along with updated wind turbine technology performance, land suitability factors, cost assumptions, and explicit consideration of transmission distance in the calculation of transmission costs. We find that wind has the potential to supply a significant portion of the world energy needs, although this potential varies substantially by region and with assumptions such as on what types of land can be used to site wind farms. Total global economic wind potential under central assumptions, that is, intermediate between optimistic and pessimistic, is estimated to be approximately 119.5 petawatt hours per year (13.6 TW) at less than 9 cents/kWh. A sensitivity analysis of eight key parameters is presented. Wind potential is sensitive to a number of input parameters, particularly wind speed (varying by -70% to +450% at less than 9 cents/kWh), land suitability (by -55% to +25%), turbine density (by -60% to +80%), and cost and financing options (by -20% to +200%), many of which have important policy implications. As a result of sensitivities studied here we suggest that further research intended to inform wind supply curve development focus not purely on physical science, such as better resolved wind maps, but also on these less well-defined factors, such as land-suitability, that will also have an impact on the long-term role of wind power.

The discovery of large gas hydrate accumulations in terrestrial permafrost regions of the Arctic and beneath the sea along the outer continental margins of the world's oceans has heightened interest in gas hydrates as a possible energy resource. However, significant to potentially insurmountable technical issues must be resolved before gas hydrates can be considered a viable option for affordable supplies of natural gas. The combined information from Arctic gas hydrate studies shows that, in permafrost regions, gas hydrates may exist at subsurface depths ranging from about 130 to 2000 m. The presence of gas hydrates in offshore continental margins has been inferred mainly from anomalous seismic reflectors, known as bottom-simulating reflectors, that have been mapped at depths below the sea floor ranging from about 100 to 1100 m. Current estimates of the amount of gas in the world's marine and permafrost gas hydrate accumulations are in rough accord at about 20,000 trillion m3. Disagreements over fundamental issues such as the volume of gas stored within delineated gas hydrate accumulations and the concentration of gas hydrates within hydrate-bearing strata have demonstrated that we know little about gas hydrates. Recently, however, several countries, including Japan, India, and the United States, have launched ambitious national projects to further examine the resource potential of gas hydrates. These projects may help answer key questions dealing with the properties of gas hydrate reservoirs, the design of production systems, and, most important, the costs and economics of gas hydrate production.

Complete-active-space self-consistent-field (CASSCF) calculations provide useful reference wave functions for configuration interaction or perturbation theory calculations of excited-state potentialenergy surfaces including dynamical electron correlation. However, the canonical molecular orbitals (MOs) of CASSCF calculations usually have mixed character in regions of strong interaction of two or more electronic states; therefore, they are unsuitable for diabatization using the configurational uniformity approach. Here, CASSCF diabatic MOs for phenol have been obtained by the 4-fold way, and comparison to the CASSCF canonical MOs shows that they are much smoother. Using these smooth CASSCF diabatic MOs, we performed direct diabatization calculations for the three low-lying states ((1)ππ, (1)ππ*, and (1)πσ*) and their diabatic (scalar) couplings at the dynamically correlated multiconfiguration quasidegenerate perturbation theory (MC-QDPT) level. We present calculations along the O-H stretching and C-C-O-H torsion coordinates for the nonadiabatic photodissociation of phenol to the phenoxyl radical and hydrogen atom. The seams of (1)ππ*/(1)πσ* and (1)ππ/(1)πσ* diabatic crossings are plotted as functions of these coordinates. We also present diabatization calculations for displacements along the out-of-plane ring distortion modes 16a and 16b of the phenyl group. The dominant coupling modes of the two conical intersections ((1)ππ*/(1)πσ* and (1)ππ/(1)πσ*) are discussed. The present diabatization method is confirmed to be valid even for significantly distorted ring structures by diabatization calculations along a reaction path connecting the planar equilibrium geometry of phenol to its strongly distorted prefulvenic form. The present work provides insight into the mode specificity of phenol photodissociation and shows that diabatization at the MC-QDPT level employing CASSCF diabatic MOs can be a good starting point for multidimensional dynamics

Dietary fiber (DF) contributes to the energy value of foods and including it in the calculation of total food energy has been recommended for food composition databases. The present study aimed to investigate the impact of including energy provided by the DF fermentation in the calculation of food energy. Total energy values of 1753 foods from the Brazilian Food Composition Database were calculated with or without the inclusion of DF energy. The energy values were compared, through the use of percentage difference (D%), in individual foods and in daily menus. Appreciable energy D% (⩾10) was observed in 321 foods, mainly in the group of vegetables, legumes and fruits. However, in the Brazilian typical menus containing foods from all groups, only D%<3 was observed. In mixed diets, the DF energy may cause slight variations in total energy; on the other hand, there is appreciable energy D% for certain foods, when individually considered.

Scattering of H2 on CO is of great importance in astrophysics and also is a benchmark system for comparing theory to experiment. We present here a new 6-dimensional potentialenergy surface for the ground electronic state of H2-CO with an estimated uncertainty of about 0.6 cm−1 in the global minimum region, several times smaller than achieved earlier. This potential has been used in nearly exact 6-dimensional quantum scattering calculations to compute state-to-state cross-sections measured in low-energy crossed-beam experiments. Excellent agreement between theory and experiment has been achieved in all cases. We also show that the fully 6-dimensional approach is not needed with the current accuracy of experimental data since an equally good agreement with experiment was obtained using only a 4-dimensional treatment, which validates the rigid-rotor approach widely used in scattering calculations. This finding, which disagrees with some literature statements, is important since for larger systems full-dimensional scattering calculations are currently not possible. PMID:27333870

The interaction potentialenergy surface (PES) of H{sub 4} is of great importance for quantum chemistry, as a test case for molecule--molecule interactions. It is also required for a detailed understanding of certain astrophysical processes, namely, collisional excitation and dissociation of H{sub 2} in molecular clouds, at densities too low to be accessible experimentally. Accurate {ital ab} {ital initio} energies were computed for 6046 conformations of H{sub 4}, using a multiple reference (single and) double excitation configuration interaction (MRD-CI) program. Both systematic and random'' errors were estimated to have an rms size of 0.6 mhartree, for a total rms error of about 0.9 mhartree (or 0.55 kcal/mol) in the final {ital ab} {ital initio} energy values. It proved possible to include in a self-consistent way {ital ab} {ital initio} energiescalculated by Schwenke, bringing the number of H{sub 4} conformations to 6101. {ital Ab} {ital initio} energies were also computed for 404 conformations of H{sub 3}; adding {ital ab} {ital initio} energiescalculated by other authors yielded a total of 772 conformations of H{sub 3}. (The H{sub 3} results, and an improved analytic PES for H{sub 3}, are reported elsewhere.) {ital Ab} {ital initio} energies are tabulated in this paper only for a sample of H{sub 4} conformations; a full list of all 6101 conformations of H{sub 4} (and 772 conformations of H{sub 3} ) is available from Physics Auxiliary Publication Service (PAPS), or from the authors.

We present a semi-automated approach for ab initio calculations of optical constants of materials from the visible to the hard x-ray energies. The approach is based on a generalization of the real space Green's formalism implemented in the FEFF8 spectroscopy code to include optical spectra. The method includes self-consistent potentials, core-hole and self-energy effects, inelastic losses and a full- or high order multiple-scattering. The procedure is based on calculations of the imaginary part of the dielectric function ɛ2 summed over all edges, from which other optical constants are derived using Kramers-Kronig transforms and analytical relations. These constants include the complex index of refraction, the real part of the dielectric function, and energy loss spectra. In contrast to standard atomic tables, the calculations include solid-state corrections, such as fine structure, Debye-Waller factors, lifetime broadening, etc. Typical results for several materials are presented and compared with experiment.

A self-consistent relativistic spin-polarized version of the full potential linearized augmented planewave (FLAPW) method (E. Wimmer, H. Krakauer, M. Weinert and A.J. Freeman, Phys. Rev. B 24), 864 (1981). is developed on the basis of a second variation treatment of the spin-orbit (SOC) interaction. The method is applied to the study of the magnetic anisotropy energy (MAE) of free-standing transition-metal monolayers (Fe, Rh, Ir). The total energy results are compared with different theoretical models used to calculate the MAE, e.g. those based on the "local force" theorem for SOC interaction or rotation of the magnetization direction. The anisotropy of the orbital magnetic moment is calculated to be in qualitative agreement with previous theoretical predictions. For Fe and Rh monolayers, the self-consistently determined MAE and the results based on the "local force" theorem are in good agreement, but the approaches fail to agree for the case of Ir. On the basis of self-consistent total energycalculations we show that an Ir monolayer shows a large in-plane magnetic anisotropy and a large anisotropy for the spin and orbital magnetic moments.

In this pedagogical work, we point out a subtle mistake that can be made by undergraduate or graduate students in the computation of the electrostatic energy of a system containing charges and perfect conductors if they naively use the image method. Specifically, we show that naive expressions for the electrostatic energy for these systems…

In 1997, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) established the ''Heat Island Reduction Initiative'', to quantify the potential benefits of Heat Island Reduction (HIR) strategies (i.e., shade trees, reflective roofs, reflective pavements and urban vegetation) to reduce cooling energy use in buildings, lower the ambient air temperature and improve urban air quality in cities, and reduce CO2 emissions from power plants. Under this initiative, the Urban Heat Island Pilot Project (UHIPP) was created with the objective to investigate the potential of HIR strategies in residential and commercial buildings in three initial UHIPP cities: Baton Rouge, Sacramento and Salt Lake City. This paper summarizes our efforts to calculate the annual energy savings, peak power avoidance and annual C02 reduction of HIR strategies in the three initial cities. In this analysis, we focused on three building types that offer most savings potential: single-family residence, office and retail store. Each building type was characterized in detail by old or new construction and with a gas furnace or an electric heat pump. We defined prototypical building characteristics for each building type and simulated the impact of HIR strategies on building cooling and heating energy use and peak power demand using the DOE-2.IE model. Our simulations included the impact of (1) strategically-placed shade trees near buildings [direct effect], (2) use of high-albedo roofing material on building [direct effect], (3) combined strategies I and 2 [direct effect], (4) urban reforestation with high-albedo pavements and building surfaces [indirect effect] and (5) combined strategies 1, 2 and 4 [direct and indirect effects]. We then estimated the total roof area of air-conditioned buildings in each city using readily obtainable data to calculate the metropolitan-wide impact of HIR strategies. The results show, that in Baton Rouge, potential annual energy savings of $15M could be realized by rate-payers from

Analyzes transportation energy consumption and energy intensiveness for inter-city freight and passenger traffic and urban passenger traffic with the definition of energy intensiveness as Btu per ton-mile or per passenger-mile. Indicates that public education is one of three ways to achieve the goals of energy conservation. (CC)

In this study, a new approach to calculate the second virial coefficient of the Exp-6 potential is proposed. Over a wide temperature range, the calculated results of the second virial coefficient determined from Exp-6 potential are comparable with the calculations of second virial coefficient over Lennard-Jones (12-6) potential. As an example of application, the formulas obtained for second virial coefficient are calculated for molecules Kr,Xe,N2,Hg,CH4 and C2H6. The obtained results are in good agreement with the data available in the literature.

New extensive millimeter-wave measurements of the 12C16O dimer have been made, and more than 300 new spectral transitions have been observed in the frequency range 81-135 GHz. A joint analysis of these and previous millimeter-wave data yielded the precise location of 33 new energy levels of A+ symmetry and 20 levels of A- symmetry. These energy levels are located at 8-18 cm(-1) above the zero-point level. Some of them belong to already known stacks, and others make up 9 new stacks of the dimer. Newly determined stacks have K=0, 1, and, for the first time, 2, where K is the projection of the total angular momentum on the intermolecular axis. The energy levels from accompanying rovibrational calculations with the use of a recently developed hybrid CCSD(T)/DFT-SAPT potential are in very good agreement with experiment. Analysis of the calculated wave functions revealed that two new stacks of A+ symmetry with K=2 correspond to overall rotation of the dimer while the other newly observed stacks belong to the geared bend overtone modes. The ground vibrational states of the two "isomers" found are more or less localized at the two minima in the potential surface, whereas all the geared bend excited states show a considerable amount of delocalization.

We recently extended the electron propagator theory to any type of quantum species based in the framework of the Any-Particle Molecular Orbital (APMO) approach [J. Romero, E. Posada, R. Flores-Moreno, and A. Reyes, J. Chem. Phys. 137, 074105 (2012)]. The generalized any particle molecular orbital propagator theory (APMO/PT) was implemented in its quasiparticle second order version in the LOWDIN code and was applied to calculate nuclear quantum effects in electron binding energies and proton binding energies in molecular systems [M. Díaz-Tinoco, J. Romero, J. V. Ortiz, A. Reyes, and R. Flores-Moreno, J. Chem. Phys. 138, 194108 (2013)]. In this work, we present the derivation of third order quasiparticle APMO/PT methods and we apply them to calculate positron binding energies (PBEs) of atoms and molecules. We calculated the PBEs of anions and some diatomic molecules using the second order, third order, and renormalized third order quasiparticle APMO/PT approaches and compared our results with those previously calculated employing configuration interaction (CI), explicitly correlated and quantum Montecarlo methodologies. We found that renormalized APMO/PT methods can achieve accuracies of ~0.35 eV for anionic systems, compared to Full-CI results, and provide a quantitative description of positron binding to anionic and highly polar species. Third order APMO/PT approaches display considerable potential to study positron binding to large molecules because of the fifth power scaling with respect to the number of basis sets. In this regard, we present additional PBE calculations of some small polar organic molecules, amino acids and DNA nucleobases. We complement our numerical assessment with formal and numerical analyses of the treatment of electron-positron correlation within the quasiparticle propagator approach.

We recently extended the electron propagator theory to any type of quantum species based in the framework of the Any-Particle Molecular Orbital (APMO) approach [J. Romero, E. Posada, R. Flores-Moreno, and A. Reyes, J. Chem. Phys. 137, 074105 (2012)]. The generalized any particle molecular orbital propagator theory (APMO/PT) was implemented in its quasiparticle second order version in the LOWDIN code and was applied to calculate nuclear quantum effects in electron binding energies and proton binding energies in molecular systems [M. Díaz-Tinoco, J. Romero, J. V. Ortiz, A. Reyes, and R. Flores-Moreno, J. Chem. Phys. 138, 194108 (2013)]. In this work, we present the derivation of third order quasiparticle APMO/PT methods and we apply them to calculate positron binding energies (PBEs) of atoms and molecules. We calculated the PBEs of anions and some diatomic molecules using the second order, third order, and renormalized third order quasiparticle APMO/PT approaches and compared our results with those previously calculated employing configuration interaction (CI), explicitly correlated and quantum Montecarlo methodologies. We found that renormalized APMO/PT methods can achieve accuracies of ˜0.35 eV for anionic systems, compared to Full-CI results, and provide a quantitative description of positron binding to anionic and highly polar species. Third order APMO/PT approaches display considerable potential to study positron binding to large molecules because of the fifth power scaling with respect to the number of basis sets. In this regard, we present additional PBE calculations of some small polar organic molecules, amino acids and DNA nucleobases. We complement our numerical assessment with formal and numerical analyses of the treatment of electron-positron correlation within the quasiparticle propagator approach.

Optimizations of atomic positions belong to the most commonly performed tasks in electronic structure calculations. Many simulations like global minimum searches or characterizations of chemical reactions require performing hundreds or thousands of minimizations or saddle computations. To automatize these tasks, optimization algorithms must not only be efficient but also very reliable. Unfortunately, computational noise in forces and energies is inherent to electronic structure codes. This computational noise poses a severe problem to the stability of efficient optimization methods like the limited-memory Broyden–Fletcher–Goldfarb–Shanno algorithm. We here present a technique that allows obtaining significant curvature information of noisy potentialenergy surfaces. We use this technique to construct both, a stabilized quasi-Newton minimization method and a stabilized quasi-Newton saddle finding approach. We demonstrate with the help of benchmarks that both the minimizer and the saddle finding approach are superior to comparable existing methods.

Optimizations of atomic positions belong to the most frequently performed tasks in electronic structure calculations. Many simulations like global minimum searches or the identification of chemical reaction pathways can require the computation of hundreds or thousands of minimizations or saddle points. To automatize these tasks, optimization algorithms must not only be efficient but also very reliable. Unfortunately, computational noise in forces and energies is inherent to electronic structure codes. This computational noise poses a severe problem to the stability of efficient optimization methods like the limited-memory Broyden-Fletcher-Goldfarb-Shanno algorithm. In this talk a recently published technique that allows to obtain significant curvature information of noisy potentialenergy surfaces is presented. This technique was used to construct both, a stabilized quasi-Newton minimization method and a stabilized quasi-Newton saddle finding approach. With the help of benchmarks both the minimizer and the saddle finding approach were demonstrated to be superior to comparable existing methods.

Optimizations of atomic positions belong to the most commonly performed tasks in electronic structure calculations. Many simulations like global minimum searches or characterizations of chemical reactions require performing hundreds or thousands of minimizations or saddle computations. To automatize these tasks, optimization algorithms must not only be efficient but also very reliable. Unfortunately, computational noise in forces and energies is inherent to electronic structure codes. This computational noise poses a severe problem to the stability of efficient optimization methods like the limited-memory Broyden-Fletcher-Goldfarb-Shanno algorithm. We here present a technique that allows obtaining significant curvature information of noisy potentialenergy surfaces. We use this technique to construct both, a stabilized quasi-Newton minimization method and a stabilized quasi-Newton saddle finding approach. We demonstrate with the help of benchmarks that both the minimizer and the saddle finding approach are superior to comparable existing methods.

A simple procedure to estimate the quadrupole Potential-Energy-Surface (PES) is presented, using mainly structural information, namely the content of the shell model space and the Pauli exclusion principle. Further microscopic properties are implicitly contained through the use of results from the Möller and Nix tables or experimental information. A mapping to the geometric potential is performed yielding the PES. The General Collective Model is used in order to obtain an estimate on the spectrum and quadrupole transitions, adjusting only the mass parameter. First, we test the conjecture on known nuclei, deriving the PES and compare them to known data. We will see that the PES approximates very well the structure expected. Having acquired a certain confidence, we predict the PES of several chain of isotopes of heavy and super-heavy nuclei and at the end we investigate the structure of nuclei in the supposed island of stability. One of the main points to show is that simple assumptions can provide already important information on the structure of nuclei outside known regions and that spectra and electromagnetic transitions can be estimated without using involved calculations and assumptions. The procedure does not allow to calculate binding energies. The method presented can be viewed as a starting point for further improvements.

We have examined the free energy effects of 5-methylation of cytosine on the B in equilibrium Z conformational equilibrium in DNA. Free energy differences were calculated using the free energy perturbation approach, which uses an easily derived equation from classical statistical mechanics to relate the free energy difference between two states to the ensemble average of the potentialenergy difference between the states. Calculations were carried both in explicit solvent and (for comparison) in vacuo. The free energy values obtained for the explicit solvent systems are total free energies, with contributions from all parts of the system (solvent + solute), and so are relevant to the B in equilibrium Z transitions observed under real (physiological) conditions. We calculate that in solution, methylation makes the B in equilibrium Z transition more favorable by about -0.4 kcal/mole base pair (bp) in free energy. This value compares well with approximate experimentally derived values of about -0.3 kcal/mole-bp. We also discuss a method for determining the free energy difference between conformational states poorly maintained by a potentialenergy model. Finally, the effects of methylation on the melting temperature of DNA are examined.

Schools are salient locations for addressing the high prevalence of overweight and obesity. Most US states require some physical education (PE) and the energy expended during PE has potential to positively affect energy balance. We previously used 2012 data to examine state policies for PE to calculate estimated student energy expenditure (EEE) under potential (i.e., recommendations followed) and existing conditions. Since then, data have been updated on both state policies and the conduct of PE. Based on updated data, we used PE frequency, duration, and intensity, student mass, and class size to calculate EEE for the delivery of PE under (a) national professional recommendations, (b) 2016 state policies, and (c) school-reported conditions. Although increased from four years ago, only 22 states currently have policies mandating specific PE minutes. EEE over 10years shows the enormous impact PE could have on energy balance. For the average recommended-size PE class, resultant annual EEE based on professional recommendations for min/week far exceeded those based on average state (n=22) policy for min/week by 44.5% for elementary, 62.7% for middle, and 59.5% for high schools. Since 2012 more states adopted policies for PE minutes than dropped them, however, EEE over 10years showed a net loss of 1200kcal/student. With no overall recent improvements in state PE policy and professional recommendations currently not being met, PE remains an underutilized public health resource for EEE. Strong policies, coupled with enhanced accountability of PE teachers and administrators, are needed to ensure PE exists in schools.

We study the potentialenergy landscape underlying the motion of monatomic liquids by quenching from random initial configurations (stochastic configurations) to the nearest local minimum of the potentialenergy. We show that this procedure reveals the underlying potentialenergy surface directly. This is in contrast to the common technique of quenching from a molecular dynamics trajectory which does not allow a direct view of the underlying potentialenergy surface, but needs to be corrected for thermodynamic weighting factors.

A new N2-N2 rigid-rotor surface has been determined using extensive Ab Initio quantum chemistry calculations together with recent experimental data for the second virial coefficient. Rotational energy transfer is studied using the new potentialenergy surface (PES) employing the close coupling method below 200 cm(exp -1) and coupled state approximation above that. Comparing with a previous calculation based on the PES of van der Avoird et al.,3 it is found that the new PES generally gives larger cross sections for large (delta)J transitions, but for small (delta)J transitions the cross sections are either comparable or smaller. Correlation between the differences in the cross sections and the two PES will be attempted. The computed cross sections will also be compared with available experimental data.

Reducing the glass phonon energy is an essential procedure to achieve high efficient radiative upconversion process. The degree of covalence of chemical bonds is responsible for the high oscillator strength of intracenter transitions in rare-earth ions. So, conversion covalent to ionic glass character is proposed as a structure-sensitive criterion that controls the phonon energy of the glasses. A series of oxyfluoro aluminum-borate host glasses used for upconversion application is prepared by the conventional melt-quenching technique. Through lithium oxide substitution by lithium fluoride, the ionic-covalent property of Li+ ion successes to regulate the band gap energies of the studied glasses. Furthermore, a new method to determine the glass phonon energy is offered.

Collision integrals are fundamental quantities required to determine the transport properties of the environment surrounding aerospace vehicles in the upper atmosphere. These collision integrals can be determined as a function of temperature from the potentialenergy curves describing the atomic and molecular collisions. Ab initio calculations provide a practical method of computing the required interaction potentials. In this work we will discuss recent advances with an emphasis on the accuracy that is obtainable. Results for interactions, e.g. N+N, N+O, O+O, and H+N2 will be reviewed and their application to the determination of transport properties, such as diffusion and viscosity coefficients, will be examined.

We present a method of directly and accurately calculating the free energy of metals and alloys, directly from models such as the Embedded Atom Method (EAM). An effective pair potential is defined, and used in an extended Weeks-Chandler-Andersen (WCA) approach. An effective hard-sphere density is defined, and perturbations from the hard-sphere limit are calculated using the pair correlation functions calculated from density functional theory. Calculations using the Mei and Davenport EAM potential for Al, with the modifications of Sturgeon and Laird, demonstrate the accuracy of the approach for both the liquid and solid phases by comparison with simulations. These results are the first step toward the direct calculation of the solid-liquid interfacial free energy for metallic systems, an important parameter for classical nucleation theory and for solidification dynamics. Our recent simulation results for the interfacial free energy provides an important test of the inhomogeneous theory. We also present preliminary results for binary systems, where the direct calculation of phase diagrams based upon the inter-atomic potentials will be compared with simulations. The approach will also allow for the direct calculation of the properties of under-cooled liquid metals and alloys.

A variational method for the calculation of low-lying vibrational energy levels of molecules with small amplitude vibrations is presented. The approach is based on the Watson Hamiltonian in rectilinear normal coordinates and characterized by a quasi-analytic integration over the kinetic energy operator (KEO). The KEO beyond the harmonic approximation is represented by a Taylor series in terms of the rectilinear normal coordinates around the equilibrium configuration. This formulation of the KEO enables its extension to arbitrary order until numerical convergence is reached for those states describing small amplitude motions and suitably represented with a rectilinear system of coordinates. A Gauss-Hermite quadrature grid representation of the anharmonic potential is used for all the benchmark examples presented. Results for a set of molecules with linear and nonlinear configurations, i.e., CO2, H2O, and formyl fluoride (HFCO), illustrate the performance of the method and the versatility of our implementation.

The first-order relativistic correction to the kinetic energy of an electron, the mass-velocity term, is not bounded from below. It can, therefore, not be used within a variational framework. To overcome this deficiency we developed a method to include the entire relativistic kinetic energy {radical}(p{sup 2}c{sup 2}+m{sub 0}{sup 2}c{sup 4}){minus}m{sub 0}c{sup 2} in a spline-augmented plane-wave band calculation. The first results for silver are quite promising, especially for d and p states: The analysis of the energies of the core states as well as of the valence band structure suggests that the energies of d bands are reproduced within 1 mRy. However, the combination of the relativistic kinetic energy with the Darwin term leads to energies which are too low for s-like valence states by 10 mRy. Therefore, the s and d valence band complex is spread out and the Fermi level is lowered by the same amount as the s states. We expect to overcome these deficiencies in future investigations by using a alternative form of the relativistic potential correction along the lines proposed by Douglas and Kroll. {copyright} {ital 1997} {ital The American Physical Society}

The interaction energy of two HF molecules at 1332 individual points has been calculated with Moeller--Plesset (many--body) perturbation theory at the MP4-SDTQ level using a 6-311G** basis set. 293 of the points correspond to stretching of one HF molecule from its equilibrium geometry. No attempt was made to use a sufficiently fine grid to accurately describe the well region corresponding to hydrogen bonding. However, the location and minimum energy are consistent with experiment and other accurate theoretical results. An extensive global fit (rms error of 1 kcal/mol) is reported of 1319 points (below 10 eV of potentialenergy) using a modified London potential with corrections obtained using polynomials through four-body interactions. A model electrostatic potential represents the long-range interaction. In addition, the use of an expansion in products of three Legendre functions is discussed. It is shown that the latter approach, although accurately fitting the ab initio data, has difficulties interpolating in regions of the surface exhibiting diverse magnitudes of potentialenergy, and therefore must be used with caution. This surface should be useful for studies of T--V--R processes in this system.

Vacancy formation and clustering significantly affect structural properties of transition-metal aluminides. Ab-initio quantum mechanical total-energycalculations using a full-potential linear combination of muffin-tin orbitals (LMTO) technique provide a convenient method of studying relevant characteristics such as changes in density of states, and charge redistribution around defects. Augmented with Hellmann-Feymann forces, LMTO allows calculations of relaxation geometries and relaxation energies. The authors have performed such calculations for vacancies and antisite substitutional point defects in Fe{sub 3}Al with DO{sub 3} crystallographic structure. There are two limiting factors complicating calculations of defect formation energies directly from ab-initio calculations. The first is that a single defect, due to the lattice periodicity necessitated by the use of ab-initio total energy techniques, cannot be considered as an isolated defect, even in the maximum computable simulation cell. Unlike previous calculations, which did not find a dependency on the size of the simulation cell, the calculations have shown a significant difference in results for 32- and 16- atom cells. This difference provides information about vacancy clustering since it can be explained by a relatively small attractive interaction energy {approximately} 0.2 eV between two vacancies located in adjacent simulation cells and separated by the lattice constant distance (5.52 {angstrom}). By comparing the internal energies for two configurations of 30 atom cells (32 atom--2 vacancies), the authors were able to estimate that the attractive interaction between two vacancies could reach 1.2 eV. The second complication is the fact that chemical potentials of elements cannot be directly extracted from the total energycalculations for the compound. To deal with this problem, they considered two possible approximations and compared results, which were found to be quite similar for iron vacancies.

The potentialenergy surfaces for H2-N and N2-N interactions are calculated by accurate ab initio methods and applied to determine transport data. The results confirm that an effective potentialenergy for accurately determining transport properties can be calculated using a single orientation. A simple method is developed to determine the dispersion coefficients of effective potentialenergies Effective potentialenergies required for O2-O collisions are determ=ined. The H2-N, N2-N, O2-H, and O2-O collision integrals are calculated and tabulated for a large range of temperatures. The theoretical values of the N2-N and O2-O diffusion coefficients compare well with measured data available at room temperature.

The influence of the choice of the intramolecular potential on the resulting frequency shift of the fundamental vibrational transition in the dihydrogen molecule adsorbed on zeolite NaA is estimated. It is shown that an improved Morse potential and the potentialcalculated by Kołtsos and Wolniewicz lead to the same frequency shift value. Application of the Buckingham method for the frequency shift calculation to this case is discussed.

Standard ab initio molecular orbital theory and density functional theory calculations have been used to calculate absolute one-electron reduction potentials of several para-quinones in acetonitrile. The high-level composite method of G3(MP2)-RAD is used for the gas-phase calculations and a continuum model of solvation, CPCM, has been employed to calculate solvation energies. To compare the theoretical reduction potentials with experiment, the reduction potentials relative to a standard calomel electrode (SCE) have also been calculated and compared to experimental values. The average error of the calculated reduction potentials using the proposed method is 0.07 V without any additional approximation. An ONIOM method in which the core is studied at G3(MP2)-RAD and the substituent effect of the rest of the molecule is studied at R(O)MP2/6-311+G(3df,2p) provides an accurate low-cost alternative to G3(MP2)-RAD for larger molecules.

Given a knowledge of the density spectra intergalactic low energy photons as a function of redshift, one can derive the intrinsic gamma-ray spectra and luminosities of blazars over a range of redshifts and look for possible trends in blazar evolution. Stecker, Baring & Summerlin have found some evidence hinting that TeV blazars with harder spectra have higher intrinsic TeV gamma-ray luminosities and indicating that there may be a correlation of spectral hardness and luminosity with redshift. Further work along these lines, treating recent observations of the blazers lES02291+200 and 3C279 in the TeV and sub-TeV energy ranges, has recently been explored by Stecker & Scully. GLAST will observe and investigate many blazars in the GeV energy range and will be sensitive to blazers at higher redshifts. I examine the implications high redshift gamma-ray absorption for both theoretical and observational blazer studies.

Electronic properties of nanoscale materials require the calculation of eigenvalues and eigenvectors of large matrices. This bottleneck can be overcome by parallel computing techniques or the introduction of faster algorithms. In this paper we report a custom implementation of the Lanczos algorithm with simple restart, optimized for graphical processing units (GPUs). The whole algorithm has been developed using CUDA and runs entirely on the GPU, with a specialized implementation that spares memory and reduces at most machine-to-device data transfers. Furthermore parallel distribution over several GPUs has been attained using the standard message passing interface (MPI). Benchmark calculations performed on a GaN/AlGaN wurtzite quantum dot with up to 600,000 atoms are presented. The empirical tight-binding (ETB) model with an sp3d5s∗+spin-orbit parametrization has been used to build the system Hamiltonian (H).

Isoelectronic impurity states are localized states induced by stoichiometric single atom substitution in bulk semiconductor. Photoluminescence spectra indicate deep impurity levels of 0.5 to 0.9eV above the top of valence band for systems like: GaN:As, GaN:P, CdS:Te, ZnS:Te. Previous calculations based on small supercells seemingly confirmed these experimental results. However, the current ab initio calculations based on thousand atom supercells indicate that the impurity levels of the above systems are actually much shallower(0.04 to 0.23 eV), and these impurity levels should be compared with photoluminescence excitation spectra, not photoluminescence spectra.

The charge-stabilization method is applied to double ionization potential equation-of-motion (EOM-DIP) calculations to stabilize unstable dianion reference functions. The auto-ionizing character of the dianionic reference states spoils the numeric performance of EOM-DIP limiting applications of this method. We demonstrate that reliable excitation energies can be computed by EOM-DIP using a stabilized resonance wave function instead of the lowest energy solution corresponding to the neutral + free electron(s) state of the system. The details of charge-stabilization procedure are discussed and illustrated by examples. The choice of optimal stabilizing Coulomb potential, which is strong enough to stabilize the dianion reference, yet, minimally perturbs the target states of the neutral, is the crux of the approach. Two algorithms of choosing optimal parameters of the stabilization potential are presented. One is based on the orbital energies, and another--on the basis set dependence of the total Hartree-Fock energy of the reference. Our benchmark calculations of the singlet-triplet energy gaps in several diradicals show a remarkable improvement of the EOM-DIP accuracy in problematic cases. Overall, the excitation energies in diradicals computed using the stabilized EOM-DIP are within 0.2 eV from the reference EOM spin-flip values.

The objective of this calculation is to verify the energy balance of the thermal calculations analyzed by ANSYS Version (V) 5.4 solver (see Section 4). The scope of this calculation is limited to calculating the energy balance of a two-dimensional repository thermal representation using the temperatures obtained from ANSYS V5.4. The procedure, AP-3.124, Calculations (Ref. 3), and the Technical Work Plan for: Waste Package Design Description for LA (Ref. 2) are used to develop this calculation. The associated activity is the development of engineering evaluations to support the Licensing Application design activities.

This project involves the development, implementation, and application of theoretical methods for the calculation and characterization of potentialenergy surfaces involving molecular species that occur in hydrocarbon combustion. These potentialenergy surfaces require an accurate and balanced treatment of reactants, intermediates, and products. This difficult challenge is met with general multiconfiguration self-consistent-field (MCSCF) and multireference single- and double-excitation configuration interaction (MRSDCI) methods. In contrast to the more common single-reference electronic structure methods, this approach is capable of describing accurately molecular systems that are highly distorted away from their equilibrium geometries, including reactant, fragment, and transition-state geometries, and of describing regions of the potential surface that are associated with electronic wave functions of widely varying nature. The MCSCF reference wave functions are designed to be sufficiently flexible to describe qualitatively the changes in the electronic structure over the broad range of geometries of interest. The necessary mixing of ionic, covalent, and Rydberg contributions, along with the appropriate treatment of the different electron-spin components (e.g. closed shell, high-spin open-shell, low-spin open shell, radical, diradical, etc.) of the wave functions, are treated correctly at this level. Further treatment of electron correlation effects is included using large scale multireference CI wave functions, particularly including the single and double excitations relative to the MCSCF reference space. This leads to the most flexible and accurate large-scale MRSDCI wave functions that have been used to date in global PES studies.

A new exact quantization rule simplifies the calculation of the energy levels for the exactly solvable quantum system. In this work we calculate the energy levels of the Schroedinger equation with the hyperbolic potential by this quantization rule. The corresponding eigenfunction is also derived for completeness. The second Poeschl-Teller like potential case is also carried out.

The work on the NH + NO system which was described in the last progress report was written up and a draft of the manuscript is included in the appendix. The appendix also contains a draft of a manuscript on an Ar + H + H surface. New work which was completed in the last six months includes the following: (1) calculations on the (1)CH2 + H2O, H2 + HCOH, and H2 + H2CO product channels in the CH3 + OH reaction; (2) calculations for the NH2 + O reaction; (3) calculations for the CH3 + O2 reaction; and (4) calculations for CH3O and the two decomposition channels--CH2OH and H + H2CO. Detailed descriptions of this work will be given in manuscripts; however, brief descriptions of the CH3 + OH and CH3 + O2 projects are given.

A new nine-dimensional potentialenergy surface (PES) for methane has been generated using state-of-the-art ab initio theory. The PES is based on explicitly correlated coupled cluster calculations with extrapolation to the complete basis set limit and incorporates a range of higher-level additive energy corrections. These include core-valence electron correlation, higher-order coupled cluster terms beyond perturbative triples, scalar relativistic effects, and the diagonal Born-Oppenheimer correction. Sub-wavenumber accuracy is achieved for the majority of experimentally known vibrational energy levels with the four fundamentals of 12CH4 reproduced with a root-mean-square error of 0.70 cm-1. The computed ab initio equilibrium C-H bond length is in excellent agreement with previous values despite pure rotational energies displaying minor systematic errors as J (rotational excitation) increases. It is shown that these errors can be significantly reduced by adjusting the equilibrium geometry. The PES represents the most accurate ab initio surface to date and will serve as a good starting point for empirical refinement.

A Brownian motor is considered which operates due to asymmetric dichotomic fluctuations of the spatially periodic asymmetric potentialenergy. As shown, the motion direction and stopping points of this motor are dictated by the competition between the spatial and temporal asymmetry of the potentialenergy (or solely by temporal asymmetry in the case that the potentialenergy sign fluctuates). For an asymmetric sawtooth potential, the Brownian-particle average velocity is calculated numerically as a function of certain parameters of the model, whereas the low-frequency and low-energy approximations allow the corresponding analytical relationships to be derived for an arbitrarily shaped potential profile. It is shown that temporal asymmetry is not necessary for stopping point occurrence provided that the potential profile fluctuates not only in amplitude but in shape as well. This inference is illustrated by photoinduced fluctuations of the potentialenergy for a number of substituted arylpyrene molecules on a substrate with symmetrically distributed charge density.

The combination of quantum mechanics (QM) with molecular mechanics (MM) offers a route to improved accuracy in the study of biological systems, and there is now significant research effort being spent to develop QM/MM methods that can be applied to the calculation of relative free energies. Currently, the computational expense of the QM part of the calculation means that there is no single method that achieves both efficiency and rigor; either the QM/MM free energy method is rigorous and computationally expensive, or the method introduces efficiency-led assumptions that can lead to errors in the result, or a lack of generality of application. In this paper we demonstrate a combined approach to form a single, efficient, and, in principle, exact QM/MM free energy method. We demonstrate the application of this method by using it to explore the difference in hydration of water and methane. We demonstrate that it is possible to calculate highly converged QM/MM relative free energies at the MP2/aug-cc-pVDZ/OPLS level within just two days of computation, using commodity processors, and show how the method allows consistent, high-quality sampling of complex solvent configurational change, both when perturbing hydrophilic water into hydrophobic methane, and also when moving from a MM Hamiltonian to a QM/MM Hamiltonian. The results demonstrate the validity and power of this methodology, and raise important questions regarding the compatibility of MM and QM/MM forcefields, and offer a potential route to improved compatibility.

Large-scale, rovibrational variational calculations are performed for ethylene, using the potentialenergy surface published by Avila and Carrington [J. Chem. Phys. 135, 064101 (2011)]. Energies for J = 0 are in very good agreement with their benchmark results. Corresponding energies for J = 1 and J = 2 are also given. Calculations with a slightly reduced basis permit energies to J = 40, allowing a reliable determination of the partition function at 296 K. Using a new ab initio dipole moment surface, reported here, the infrared spectra of five dipole-allowed fundamentals are calculated. Both the partition function and infrared spectra are shown to be in excellent agreement with those in the experimental HITRAN database, with the exception of one band, which we believe is partially mis-assigned in HITRAN.

The Objective of this project is to develop, implement, and test new deterministric methods to solve, as efficiently as possible, multigroup neutron transport problems having an extremely large number of groups. Our approach was to (i) use the standard CMFD method to "coarsen" the space-angle grid, yielding a multigroup diffusion equation, and (ii) use a new multigrid-in-space-and-energy technique to efficiently solve the multigroup diffusion problem. The overall strategy of (i) how to coarsen the spatial an energy grids, and (ii) how to navigate through the various grids, has the goal of minimizing the overall computational effort. This approach yields not only the fine-grid solution, but also coarse-group flux-weighted cross sections that can be used for other related problems.

This report assesses the energy conservation impact of surface modification technologies on the metalworking industries. The energy conservation impact of surface modification technologies on the metalworking industries is assessed by estimating their friction and wear tribological sinks and the subsequent reduction in these sinks when surface modified tools are used. Ion implantation, coatings, and laser and electron beam surface modifications are considered.

Autoencoders are popular feature learning models, that are conceptually simple, easy to train and allow for efficient inference. Recent work has shown how certain autoencoders can be associated with an energy landscape, akin to negative log-probability in a probabilistic model, which measures how well the autoencoder can represent regions in the input space. The energy landscape has been commonly inferred heuristically, by using a training criterion that relates the autoencoder to a probabilistic model such as a Restricted Boltzmann Machine (RBM). In this paper we show how most common autoencoders are naturally associated with an energy function, independent of the training procedure, and that the energy landscape can be inferred analytically by integrating the reconstruction function of the autoencoder. For autoencoders with sigmoid hidden units, the energy function is identical to the free energy of an RBM, which helps shed light onto the relationship between these two types of model. We also show that the autoencoder energy function allows us to explain common regularization procedures, such as contractive training, from the perspective of dynamical systems. As a practical application of the energy function, a generative classifier based on class-specific autoencoders is presented.

An overview of America's energy situation is presented with emphasis on recent progress, the risk of depending upon foreign oil, and policy choices. Section one reviews the energy problems of the 1970s, issues of the 1980s, concerns for the future, and choices that if made today could alleviate future problems. Section two examines past problems,…

We have carried out extensive high quality ab initio electronic structure calculations of the ground state potentialenergy surface (PES) and dipole moment function (DMF) for H2O. A small adjustment is made to the PES to improve the agreement of line positions from theory and experiment. The theoretical line positions are obtained from variational ro-vibrational calculations using the exact kinetic energy operator. For the lines being fitted, the root-mean-square error was reduced from 6.9 to 0.08 /cm. We were then able to match 30,092 of the 30,117 lines from the HITRAN 96 data base to theoretical lines, and 80% of the line positions differed less than 0.1 /cm. About 3% of the line positions in the experimental data base appear to be incorrect. Theory predicts the existence of many additional weak lines with intensities above the cutoff used in the data base. To obtain results of similar accuracy for HDO, a mass dependent correction to the PH is introduced and is parameterized by simultaneously fitting line positions for HDO and D2O. The mass dependent PH has good predictive value for T2O and HTO. Nonadiabatic effects are not explicitly included. Line strengths for vibrational bands summed over rotational levels usually agree well between theory and experiment, but individual line strengths can differ greatly. A high temperature line list containing about 380 million lines has been generated using the present PES and DMF

EPA promotes the reuse of potentially contaminated lands and landfills for renewable energy. This strategy creates new markets for potentially contaminated lands, while providing a sustainable land development strategy for renewable energy.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of numerical errors caused by the floating point representation of real numbers in a GPU-based Monte Carlo code used for dose calculation in radiation oncology, and to identify situations where this type of error arises. The program used as a benchmark was bGPUMCD. Three tests were performed on the code, which was divided into three functional components: energy accumulation, particle tracking and physical interactions. First, the impact of single-precision calculations was assessed for each functional component. Second, a GPU-specific compilation option that reduces execution time as well as precision was examined. Third, a specific function used for tracking and potentially more sensitive to precision errors was tested by comparing it to a very high-precision implementation. Numerical errors were found in two components of the program. Because of the energy accumulation process, a few voxels surrounding a radiation source end up with a lower computed dose than they should. The tracking system contained a series of operations that abnormally amplify rounding errors in some situations. This resulted in some rare instances (less than 0.1%) of computed distances that are exceedingly far from what they should have been. Most errors detected had no significant effects on the result of a simulation due to its random nature, either because they cancel each other out or because they only affect a small fraction of particles. The results of this work can be extended to other types of GPU-based programs and be used as guidelines to avoid numerical errors on the GPU computing platform.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of numerical errors caused by the floating point representation of real numbers in a GPU-based Monte Carlo code used for dose calculation in radiation oncology, and to identify situations where this type of error arises. The program used as a benchmark was bGPUMCD. Three tests were performed on the code, which was divided into three functional components: energy accumulation, particle tracking and physical interactions. First, the impact of single-precision calculations was assessed for each functional component. Second, a GPU-specific compilation option that reduces execution time as well as precision was examined. Third, a specific function used for tracking and potentially more sensitive to precision errors was tested by comparing it to a very high-precision implementation. Numerical errors were found in two components of the program. Because of the energy accumulation process, a few voxels surrounding a radiation source end up with a lower computed dose than they should. The tracking system contained a series of operations that abnormally amplify rounding errors in some situations. This resulted in some rare instances (less than 0.1%) of computed distances that are exceedingly far from what they should have been. Most errors detected had no significant effects on the result of a simulation due to its random nature, either because they cancel each other out or because they only affect a small fraction of particles. The results of this work can be extended to other types of GPU-based programs and be used as guidelines to avoid numerical errors on the GPU computing platform.

The potentialenergy surface (PES) for NH + NO was characterized using complete active space self-consistent field (CASSCF) gradient calculations to determine the stationary point geometries and frequencies followed by CASSCF/internally contracted configuration interaction (CCI) calculations to refine the energetics. The present results are in qualitative accord with the BAC-MP4 calculations, but there are differences as large as 8 kcal/mol in the detailed energetics. Addition of NH to NO on a (2)A' surface, which correlated with N2 + OH or H + N2O products, involves barriers of 3.2 kcal/mol (trans) and 6.3 kcal/mol (cis). Experimental evidence for these barriers is found in earlier works. The (2)A' surface has no barrier to addition, but does not correlate with products. Surface crossings between the barrierless (2)A' surface and the (2)A' surface may be important. Production of N2 + OH products is predicted to occur via a planar saddle point of (2)A' symmetry. This is in accord with the preferential formation of II(A') lambda doublet levels of OH in earlier experiments. Addition of NH (1)delta to NO is found to occur on an excited state surface and is predicted to lead to N2O product as observed in earlier works.

The lattice summations of the potentialenergy of importance in the graphite system have been computed by direct summation assuming a Lennard-Jones 6-12 potential between carbon atoms. From these summations, potentialenergy curves were constructed for interactions between a carbon atom and a graphite monolayer, between a carbon atom and a graphite surface, between a graphite monolayer and a semi-infinite graphite crystal and between two graphite semi-infinite crystals. Using these curves, the equilibrium distance between two isolated physically interacting carbon atoms was found to be 2.70 a, where a is the carbon-carbon distance in a graphite sheet. The distance between a surface plane and the rest of the crystal was found to be 1.7% greater than the interlayer spacing. Theoretical values of the energy of cohesion and the compressibility were calculated from the potential curve for the interaction between two semi-infinite crystals. They were (delta)E(sub c) = -330 ergs/sq cm and beta =3.18x10(exp -12)sq cm/dyne, respectively. These compared favorably with the experimental values of (delta)E(sub c) = -260 ergs/sq cm and beta = 2.97 X 10(exp -2) sq cm/dyne.

A new calculation of the stopping powers (SP) and inelastic mean free paths (IMFP) for electrons in toluene at energies below 10 keV has been presented. The calculation is based on the dielectric model and on an empirical evaluation approach of optical energy loss function (OELF). The reliability for the evaluated OELFs of several hydrocarbons with available experimental optical data has been systematically checked. For toluene, using the empirical OELF, the evaluated mean ionization potential, is compared with that given by Bragg's rule, and the calculated SP at 10 keV is also compared with the Bethe-Bloch prediction. The present results for SP and IMFP provide an alternative basic data for the study on the energy deposition of low-energy electrons transport through toluene, and also show that the method used in this work may be a good one for evaluating the SP and IMFP for hydrocarbons.

The development of a "first principles" water potential with flexible monomers (MB-pol) for molecular simulations of water systems from gas to condensed phases is described. MB-pol is built upon the many-body expansion of the intermolecular interactions, and the specific focus of this study is on the two-body term (V2B) representing the full-dimensional intermolecular part of the water dimer potentialenergy surface. V2B is constructed by fitting 40,000 dimer energiescalculated at the CCSD(T)/CBS level of theory and imposing the correct asymptotic behavior at long-range as predicted from "first principles". The comparison of the calculated vibration-rotation tunneling (VRT) spectrum and second virial coefficient with the corresponding experimental results demonstrates the accuracy of the MB-pol dimer potentialenergy surface.

An optical potential method was applied to the calculation of positron scattering from the noble gases in order to determine the effect of open excitation channels on the shape of differential scattering cross sections.

We present the calculations of the electronic structure and transport properties on the anti-fluorite Mg{sub 2}Si using the full potential linearized augmented plane-wave (FP-LAPW) method and the semi-classical Boltzmann theory. The modified Becke-Johnson (mBJ) exchange potentials are used to derive energy gaps and correct band gaps according to experimental values. It is found that Mg{sub 2}Si is an indirect band gap (Γ→X) material with the gap of 0.56 eV which is in good agreement with the experimental observation. Note that the band structure of Mg{sub 2}Si is directly used in combination with the semi-classical Boltzmann theory to obtain the transport coefficients. It is found that the material is the n-type semiconductor with the lowest electron concentration of 3.03×10{sup 14} cm{sup −3} at 300 K. We have also calculated the thermoelectric properties of Mg{sub 2}Si based on the rigid band approximation by varying the p-type and n-type doping levels. At room temperature, the highest power factor for p-type and n-type dopants are obtained at the hole and electron concentration of 1.63×10{sup 20} cm{sup −3} and 1.15×1021 cm{sup −3}, respectively. From the electronic states, we also found that the n-type doping region is dominated by the Mg−2p{sup 6} 3s{sup 2} and Si−3p{sup 2} states, while the Mg−2p{sup 6} and Si−3p{sup 2} states are important in the p-type doped Mg{sub 2}Si.

Whereas conical intersections between potentialenergy surfaces of bound states are well known, the interaction of short-lived states has been investigated only rarely. Here, we present several systematically constructed model Hamiltonians to study the topology of intersecting complex potentialenergy surfaces describing short-lived states: We find the general phenomenon of doubly intersecting complex energy surfaces, i.e., there are two points instead of one as in the case of bound states where the potentialenergy surfaces coalesce. In addition, seams of intersections of the respective real and imaginary parts of the potentialenergy surfaces emanate from these two points. Using the Sigma* and Pi* resonance states of the chloroethene anion as a practical example, we demonstrate that our complete linear model Hamiltonian is able to reproduce all phenomena found in explicitly calculated ab initio complex potentialenergy surfaces.

We propose a fully ab initio method, the opposing crystal potential (OCP), to calculate the crystal-field parameters of transition-metal impurities in insulator hosts. Through constrained density functional calculations, OCP obtains the constraining Lagrange multipliers, which act as a cancellation potential against the crystal field and lead to spherical d-electron distribution. Furthermore, the method is applied to several insulators doped with Mn4+ and Mn2+ ions and shown to be in good agreement with experiment.

The article introduces a robust algorithm for the computation of minimum energy paths transiting along regions of near-to or degeneracy of adiabatic states. The method facilitates studies of excited state reactivity involving weakly avoided crossings and conical intersections. Based on the analysis of the change in the multiconfigurational wave function the algorithm takes the decision whether the optimization should continue following the same electronic state or switch to a different state. This algorithm helps to overcome convergence difficulties near degeneracies. The implementation in the MOLCAS quantum chemistry package is discussed. To demonstrate the utility of the proposed procedure four examples of application are provided: thymine, asulam, 1,2-dioxetane, and a three-double-bond model of the 11-cis-retinal protonated Schiff base.

Molecular fractionation with conjugate caps (MFCC) method is introduced for the efficient estimation of quantum mechanical (QM) interaction energies between nanomaterial (carbon nanotube, fullerene, and graphene surface) and ligand (charged and neutral). In the calculations, nanomaterials are partitioned into small fragments and conjugated caps that are properly capped, and the interaction energies can be obtained through the summation of QM calculations of the fragments from which the contribution of the conjugated caps is removed. All the calculations were performed by density functional theory (DFT) and dispersion contributions for the attractive interactions were investigated by dispersion corrected DFT method. The predicted interaction energies by MFCC at each computational level are found to give excellent agreement with full system (FS) calculations with the mean energy deviation just a fractional kcal/mol. The accurate determination of nanomaterial-ligand interaction energies by MFCC suggests that it is an effective method for performing QM calculations on nanomaterial-ligand systems.

Molecular fractionation with conjugate caps (MFCC) method is introduced for the efficient estimation of quantum mechanical (QM) interaction energies between nanomaterial (carbon nanotube, fullerene, and graphene surface) and ligand (charged and neutral). In the calculations, nanomaterials are partitioned into small fragments and conjugated caps that are properly capped, and the interaction energies can be obtained through the summation of QM calculations of the fragments from which the contribution of the conjugated caps is removed. All the calculations were performed by density functional theory (DFT) and dispersion contributions for the attractive interactions were investigated by dispersion corrected DFT method. The predicted interaction energies by MFCC at each computational level are found to give excellent agreement with full system (FS) calculations with the mean energy deviation just a fractional kcal/mol. The accurate determination of nanomaterial-ligand interaction energies by MFCC suggests that it is an effective method for performing QM calculations on nanomaterial-ligand systems. PMID:28300179

Density-corrected DFT is a method that cures several failures of self-consistent semilocal DFT calculations by using a more accurate density instead. A novel procedure employs the Hartree-Fock density to bonds that are more severely stretched than ever before. This substantially increases the range of accurate potentialenergy surfaces obtainable from semilocal DFT for many heteronuclear molecules. We show that this works for both neutral and charged molecules. We explain why and explore more difficult cases, for example, CH(+), where density-corrected DFT results are even better than sophisticated methods like CCSD. We give a simple criterion for when DC-DFT should be more accurate than self-consistent DFT that can be applied for most cases.

Complete active space multiconfiguration self-consistent field (CAS-MCSFC) followed by full second-roder CI (SOCI) and relativistic configuration interaction (RCI) including spin-orbit coupling calculations are carried out on 14 λ- s and 10 ω-ω states of HfH. The spectroscopic constants ( re, Te, ωe, μe, De) of these states are computed. The potentialenergy curves of these states are also reported. We find several electronic transitions in the IR-UV regions for HfH which are yet to be observed. The ground state of HfH is found to be a {3}/{2} state (82% 2Δ, 8% 2Π) with r e = 1.854 Å, ωe = 1704 cm -1 and μe = 0.66 D. The spin-orbit effects are found to be very significant for HfH.

The spectroscopic constants and potentialenergy curves of the PbI diatomic were computed using complete active space SCF (CASSCF) followed by first-order CI (FOCI) and second-order CI (SOCI) calculations which included 607 000 configurations. Spin-orbit coupling was studied using the relativistic CI (RCI) method. The spectroscopic properties of the 2Π1/2 state are Re = 2.885 Å, ωe, = 153 cm-1, and De = 2.54(eV), while for the 2Π3/2 state the corresponding values are Re = 2.859 Å, ωe = 162 cm-1, and Te = 8255 cm-1. Our computed constants are in good agreement with experiment for the observed states. We also computed the properties and curves for several excited states which are yet to be observed.

Advanced quantum approach to calculation of spectra for superheavy ions with an account of relativistic, correlation, nuclear, radiative effects is developed and based on the gauge invariant quantum electrodynamics (QED) perturbation theory (PT). The Lamb shift polarization part is calculated in the Ueling approximation, self-energy part is defined within a new non-PT procedure of Ivanov-Ivanova. Calculation results for energy levels, hyperfine structure parameters of some heavy elements ions are presented.

An analytical model for the diatomic potentialenergy function that was recently tested as a universal function (Hajigeorgiou, 2010) has been further modified and tested as a suitable model for direct-potential-fit analysis. Applications are presented for the ground electronic states of three diatomic molecules: oxygen, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen fluoride. The adjustable parameters of the extended Lennard-Jones potential model are determined through nonlinear regression by fits to calculated rovibrational energy term values or experimental spectroscopic line positions. The model is shown to lead to reliable, compact and simple representations for the potentialenergy functions of these systems and could therefore be classified as a suitable and attractive model for direct-potential-fit analysis.

A manuscript describing the calculations on the (1)CH2 + H2O, H2 + HCOH, and H2 + H2CO product channels in the CH3 + OH reaction, which were described in the last progress report, has been accepted for publication in J. Chem. Phys., and a copy of the manuscript is included in the appendix. The production of (1)CH2 in this reaction is important in hydrocarbon combustion since (1)CH2 is highly reactive and would be expected to insert into N2, possibly leading to a new source for prompt NO(x) (vide infra). During the last six months new calculations have been carried out for the NH2 + NO system, which is important in the thermal de-NO(x) process.

In models of electrical stimulation of the nervous system, the electric potential is typically calculated using the quasi-static approximation. The quasi-static approximation allows Maxwell's equations to be simplified by ignoring capacitive, inductive and wave propagation contributions to the potential. While this simplification has been validated for bioelectric sources, its application to rapid stimulation pulses, which contain more high-frequency power, may not be appropriate. We compared the potentialscalculated using the quasi-static approximation with those calculated from the exact solution to the inhomogeneous Helmholtz equation. The mean absolute errors between the two potentialcalculations were limited to 5-13% for pulse widths commonly used for neural stimulation (25 micros-1 ms). We also quantified the excitation properties of extracellular point source stimulation of a myelinated nerve fiber model using potentialscalculated from each method. Deviations between the strength-duration curves for potentialscalculated using the quasi-static (sigma = 0.105 S m(-1)) and Helmholtz approaches ranged from 3 to 16%, with the minimal error occurring for 100 micros pulses. Differences in the threshold-distance curves for the two calculations ranged from 0 to 9%, for the same value of quasi-static conductivity. A sensitivity analysis of the material parameters revealed that the potential was much more strongly dependent on the conductivity than on the permittivity. These results indicate that for commonly used stimulus pulse parameters, the exact solution for the potential can be approximated by quasi-static simplifications only for appropriate values of conductivity.

A residential energy-use model was developed to estimate energy budgets for household laundering practices in the United States and Canada. The thermal energy for heating water and mechanical energy for agitating clothes in conventional washing machines were calculated for representative households in the United States and Canada. Comparisons in energy consumption among hot-, warm-, and cold-water wash and rinse cycles, horizontal- and vertical-axis washing machines, and gas and electric water heaters, were calculated on a per-wash-load basis. Demographic data for current laundering practices in the United States and Canada were then incorporated to estimate household and national energy consumption on an annual basis for each country. On average, the thermal energy required to heat water using either gas or electric energy constitutes 80% to 85% of the total energy consumed per wash in conventional, vertical-axis (top-loading) washing machines. The balance of energy used is mechanical energy. Consequently, the potentialenergy savings per load in converting from hot-and-warm- to cold-wash temperatures can be significant. Annual potentialenergy and cost savings and reductions in carbon dioxide emissions are also estimated for each country, assuming full conversion to cold-wash water temperatures. This study provides useful information to consumers for conserving energy in the home, as well as to, manufacturers in the design of more energy-efficient laundry formulations and appliances.

A new high quality potentialenergy surface is calculated at a coupled-cluster single double triple level with an aug-cc-pV5Z basis set for the HCS(+)-He system. This potentialenergy surface is used in low energy quantum scattering calculations to provide a set of (de)-excitation cross sections and rate coefficients among the first 20 rotational levels of HCS(+) by He in the range of temperature from 5 K to 100 K. The paper discusses the impact of the new ab initio potentialenergy surface on the cross sections at low energy and provides a comparison with the HCO(+)-He system. The HCS(+)-He rate coefficients for the strongest transitions differ by factors of up to 2.5 from previous rate coefficients; thus, analysis of astrophysical spectra should be reconsidered with the new rate coefficients.

We use the configuration-interaction method and many-body perturbation theory to perform accurate calculations of energy levels, transition amplitudes, and lifetimes of low-lying states of barium and radium. Calculations for radium are needed for the planning of measurements of parity- and time-invariance-violating effects which are strongly enhanced in this atom. Calculations for barium are used to control the accuracy of the calculations.

(12/11)CASSCF and (12/11)CASPT2 ab initio electronic structure calculations with both the cc-pVDZ and cc-pVTZ basis sets find that there is a barrier to the very exothermic hydrogen shift that converts singlet methylnitrene, CH{sub 3}N, to methyleneimine, H{sub 2}C{double{underscore}bond}NH. These two energy minima are connected by a transition structure of C{sub s} symmetry, which is computed to lie 3.8 kcal/mol above the reactant at the (12/11)CASPT2/cc-pVTZ//(12/11)CASSCF/cc-pVTZ level of theory. The (12/11)CASSCF/cc-pVTZ value for the lowest frequency vibration in the transition structure is 854 cm{sup {minus}1}, and CASPT2 calculations concur that this a{double{underscore}prime} vibration does indeed have a positive force constant. Thus, there is no evidence that this geometry is actually a mountain top, rather than a transition structure, on the global potentialenergy surface or that a C{sub 1} pathway of lower energy connects the reactant to the product. Therefore, computational results indicate that the bands seen for singlet methylnitrene in the negative ion photoelectron spectrum of CH{sub 3}N{sup {minus}} are due to singlet methylnitrene being an energy minimum, rather than a transition state. These results also lead to the prediction that, at least in principle, singlet methylnitrene should be an observable intermediate in the formation of methyleneimine.

In this study, the electrostatically embedded generalized molecular fractionation with conjugate caps (concaps) method (EE-GMFCC) was employed for efficient linear-scaling quantum mechanical (QM) calculation of total energies of RNAs. In the EE-GMFCC approach, the total energy of RNA is calculated by taking a proper combination of the QM energy of each nucleotide-centric fragment with large caps or small caps (termed EE-GMFCC-LC and EE-GMFCC-SC, respectively) deducted by the energies of concaps. The two-body QM interaction energy between non-neighboring ribonucleotides which are spatially in close contact are also taken into account for the energycalculation. Numerical studies were carried out to calculate the total energies of a number of RNAs using the EE-GMFCC-LC and EE-GMFCC-SC methods at levels of the Hartree-Fock (HF) method, density functional theory (DFT), and second-order many-body perturbation theory (MP2), respectively. The results show that the efficiency of the EE-GMFCC-SC method is about 3 times faster than the EE-GMFCC-LC method with minimal accuracy sacrifice. The EE-GMFCC-SC method is also applied for relative energycalculations of 20 different conformers of two RNA systems using HF and DFT, respectively. Both single-point and relative energycalculations demonstrate that the EE-GMFCC method has deviations from the full system results of only a few kcal/mol.

The measured redox potential of an actinide at an electrode surface involves the transfer of a single electron from the electrode surface on to the actinide center. Before electron transfer takes place, the complexing ligands and molecules of solvation need to become structurally arranged such that the electron transfer is at its most favorable. Following the electron transfer, there is further rearrangement to obtain the minimum energy structure for the reduced state. As such, there are three parts to the total energy cycle required to take the complex from its ground state oxidized form to its ground state reduced form. The first part of the energy comes from the structural rearrangement and solvation energies of the actinide species before the electron transfer or charge transfer process; the second part, the energy of the electron transfer; the third part, the energy required to reorganize the ligands and molecules of solvation around the reduced species. The time resolution of electrochemical techniques such as cyclic voltammetry is inadequate to determine to what extent bond and solvation rearrangement occurs before or after electron transfer; only for a couple to be classed as reversible is it fast in terms of the experimental time. Consequently, the partitioning of the energy theoretically is of importance to obtain good experimental agreement. Here we investigate the magnitude of the instantaneous charge transfer through calculating the fast one electron reduction energies of AnO2(H2O)n(2+), where An = U, Np, and Pu, for n = 4-6, in solution without inclusion of the structural optimization energy of the reduced form. These calculations have been performed using a number of DFT functionals, including the recently developed functionals of Zhao and Truhlar. The results obtained for calculated electron affinities in the aqueous phase for the AnO2(H2O)5(2+/+) couples are within 0.04 V of accepted experimental redox potentials, nearly an order of magnitude

Protein side-chain mutation is fundamental both to natural evolutionary processes and to the engineering of protein therapeutics, which constitute an increasing fraction of important medications. Molecular simulation enables the prediction of the effects of mutation on properties such as binding affinity, secondary and tertiary structure, conformational dynamics, and thermal stability. A number of widely differing approaches have been applied to these predictions, including sequence-based algorithms, knowledge-based potential functions, and all-atom molecular mechanics calculations. Free energy perturbation theory, employing all-atom and explicit-solvent molecular dynamics simulations, is a rigorous physics-based approach for calculating thermodynamic effects of, for example, protein side-chain mutations. Over the past several years, we have initiated an investigation of the ability of our most recent free energy perturbation methodology to model the thermodynamics of protein mutation for two specific problems: protein-protein binding affinities and protein thermal stability. We highlight recent advances in the field and outline current and future challenges.

A fast method is developed for calculating the random phase approximation (RPA) correlation energy for density functional theory. The correlation energy is given by a trace over a projected RPA response matrix, and the trace is taken by a stochastic approach using random perturbation vectors. For a fixed statistical error in the total energy per electron, the method scales, at most, quadratically with the system size; however, in practice, due to self-averaging, it requires less statistical sampling as the system grows, and the performance is close to linear scaling. We demonstrate the method by calculating the RPA correlation energy for cadmium selenide and silicon nanocrystals with over 1500 electrons. We find that the RPA correlation energies per electron are largely independent of the nanocrystal size. In addition, we show that a correlated sampling technique enables calculation of the energy difference between two slightly distorted configurations with scaling and a statistical error similar to that of the total energy per electron.

We describe a recently developed fully relativistic B-spline R-matrix method for atomic structure as well as calculations for electron and photon collision with atoms and ions. The method is based on the solution of the many-electron Fock-Dirac equation and allows to employ non-orthogonal sets of atomic orbitals. A B-spline basis is used to generate both the target description and the R-matrix basis functions in the inner region. Employing B-splines of different orders for the large and small components prevents the appearance of spurious states in the spectrum of the Dirac equation. Using term-dependent and thus nonorthogonal sets of one-electron functions enables us to generate accurate and flexible representations of the target states and the scattering function. Our method is based upon the Dirac-Coulomb Hamiltonian and thus may be employed for any complex atom or ion, without the use of phenomenological core potentials. Example results from recent applications of the method for accurate calculations of low-energy electron scattering from noble gases are presented. In most cases we obtained a substantial improvement over results obtained in previous Breit-Pauli R-matrix calculations.

We first calculate the ground-state molecular wave function of 1D model H{sub 2} molecule by solving the coupled equations of motion formulated in the extended multi-configuration time-dependent Hartree-Fock (MCTDHF) method by the imaginary time propagation. From the comparisons with the results obtained by the Born-Huang (BH) expansion method as well as with the exact wave function, we observe that the memory size required in the extended MCTDHF method is about two orders of magnitude smaller than in the BH expansion method to achieve the same accuracy for the total energy. Second, in order to provide a theoretical means to understand dynamical behavior of the wave function, we propose to define effective adiabatic potential functions and compare them with the conventional adiabatic electronic potentials, although the notion of the adiabatic potentials is not used in the extended MCTDHF approach. From the comparison, we conclude that by calculating the effective potentials we may be able to predict the energy differences among electronic states even for a time-dependent system, e.g., time-dependent excitation energies, which would be difficult to be estimated within the BH expansion approach.

Includes information on the electricity use and needs of Indian households and tribes, the comparative electricity rates that Indian households are paying, and the potential for renewable resources development of Indian lands.

The singlet rigid Be—O dissociation potentialenergy curves correlating to the first four molecular limits of (BeH2O)2+ complex were calculated using the multi-reference single and double excitation configuration interaction theory. The radial couplings of three low-lying 1A1 states were calculated and combined with adiabatic potentialenergy curves to investigate and charge-transfer collision dynamics by using quantum-mechanical molecular orbital close-coupling methods. It is found that the total charge-transfer cross sections are dominated by the Be+(2S)+H2O+(Ã2A1) channel. The rate coefficients in the range of 10-17-10-12 cm3/s are very sensitive to temperature below 1000 K. The complexation energy without charge-transfer was determined to be 143.6 kcal/mol, including zero-point vibration energy corrections. This is in good agreement with the previous results.

This study documents the energy consumption of commercial refrigeration equipment (CRE) in the U.S. and evaluated the energy savings potential of various technologies and energy efficiency measures that could be applied to such equipment. The study provided an overview of CRE applications, assessed the energy-savings potential of CRE in the U.S., outline key barriers to adoption of energy-savings technologies, and recommended opportunities for advanced energy saving technology research. The study was modeled after an earlier 1996 report by Arthur D. Little, Inc., and updated key information, examined more equipment types, and outlined long-term research and development opportunities.

Advanced free energy perturbation molecular dynamics (FEP/MD) simulation methods are available to accurately calculate absolute binding free energies of protein-ligand complexes. However, these methods rely on several sophisticated command scripts implementing various biasing energy restraints to enhance the convergence of the FEP/MD calculations, which must all be handled properly to yield correct results. Here, we present a user-friendly Web interface, CHARMM-GUI Ligand Binder ( http://www.charmm-gui.org/input/gbinding ), to provide standardized CHARMM input files for calculations of absolute binding free energies using the FEP/MD simulations. A number of features are implemented to conveniently set up the FEP/MD simulations in highly customizable manners, thereby permitting an accelerated throughput of this important class of computations while decreasing the possibility of human errors. The interface and a series of input files generated by the interface are tested with illustrative calculations of absolute binding free energies of three nonpolar aromatic ligands to the L99A mutant of T4 lysozyme and three FK506-related ligands to FKBP12. Statistical errors within individual calculations are found to be small (~1 kcal/mol), and the calculated binding free energies generally agree well with the experimental measurements and the previous computational studies (within ~2 kcal/mol). Therefore, CHARMM-GUI Ligand Binder provides a convenient and reliable way to set up the ligand binding free energycalculations and can be applicable to pharmaceutically important protein-ligand systems.

Aimed at improving the calculation accuracy when calculating the energy deposition of electrons traveling in solids, a method we call optimal subdivision number searching algorithm is proposed. When treating the energy deposition of electrons traveling in solids, large calculation errors are found, we are conscious of that it is the result of dividing and summing when calculating the integral. Based on the results of former research, we propose a further subdividing and summing method. For β particles with the energy in the entire spectrum span, the energy data is set only to be the integral multiple of keV, and the subdivision number is set to be from 1 to 30, then the energy deposition calculation error collections are obtained. Searching for the minimum error in the collections, we can obtain the corresponding energy and subdivision number pairs, as well as the optimal subdivision number. The method is carried out in four kinds of solid materials, Al, Si, Ni and Au to calculateenergy deposition. The result shows that the calculation error is reduced by one order with the improved algorithm.

Advanced free energy perturbation molecular dynamics (FEP/MD) simulation methods are available to accurately calculate absolute binding free energies of protein-ligand complexes. However, these methods rely on several sophisticated command scripts implementing various biasing energy restraints to enhance the convergence of the FEP/MD calculations, which must all be handled properly to yield correct results. Here, we present a user-friendly web interface, CHARMM-GUI Ligand Binder (http://www.charmm-gui.org/input/gbinding), to provide standardized CHARMM input files for calculations of absolute binding free energies using the FEP/MD simulations. A number of features are implemented to conveniently setup the FEP/MD simulations in highly customizable manners, thereby permitting an accelerated throughput of this important class of computations while decreasing the possibility of human errors. The interface and a series of input files generated by the interface are tested with illustrative calculations of absolute binding free energies of three non-polar aromatic ligands to the L99A mutant of T4 lysozyme and three FK506-related ligands to FKBP12. Statistical errors within individual calculations are found to be small (~1 kcal/mol), and the calculated binding free energies generally agree well with the experimental measurements and the previous computational studies (within ~2 kcal/mol). CHARMM-GUI Ligand Binder provides a convenient and reliable way to setup the ligand binding free energycalculations and can be applicable to pharmaceutically important protein-ligand systems. PMID:23205773

To develop a general method for human tissue characterization with dual- and multi-energy CT and evaluate its performance in determining elemental compositions and quantities relevant to radiotherapy Monte Carlo dose calculation. Ideal materials to describe human tissue are obtained applying principal component analysis on elemental weight and density data available in literature. The theory is adapted to elemental composition for solving tissue information from CT data. A novel stoichiometric calibration method is integrated to the technique to make it suitable for a clinical environment. The performance of the method is compared with two techniques known in literature using theoretical CT data. In determining elemental weights with dual-energy CT, the method is shown to be systematically superior to the water-lipid-protein material decomposition and comparable to the parameterization technique. In determining proton stopping powers and energy absorption coefficients with dual-energy CT, the method generally shows better accuracy and unbiased results. The generality of the method is demonstrated simulating multi-energy CT data to show the potential to extract more information with multiple energies. The method proposed in this paper shows good performance to determine elemental compositions from dual-energy CT data and physical quantities relevant to radiotherapy dose calculation. The method is particularly suitable for Monte Carlo calculations and shows promise in using more than two energies to characterize human tissue with CT.

Two major themes were pursued during this research period. The first of these involved examining the impacts of satellite-based data and the forecast model used by the Goddard Laboratory for Atmospheres (GLA) on general circulation statistics. For the other major topic, the diabatic heating fields produced by GLA were examined for one month during the FGGE First Special Observing Period. As part of that effort, the three-dimensional distribution of the four component heating fields were studied, namely those due to shortwave radiation, Q sub SW, longwave radiation, Q sub LW, sensible heating, Q sub S, and latent heating, Q sub L. These components were calculated as part of the GLA analysis/forecast system and archived every quarter day; from these archives cross products with temperature were computed to enable the direct calculation of certain terms of the large-scale atmospheric energy cycle, namely those involving the generation of available potentialenergy (APE). The decision to archive the diabatic heating components separately has enabled researchers to study the role of the various processes that drive the energy cycle of the atmosphere.

This report details the methodology used by DOE to calculate levelized cost of wind energy and demonstrates the variation in COE estimates due to different financing assumptions independent of wind generation technology.

Summarizes the discussions of a Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry symposium on solids handling for synthetic fuels production. Included is a description of technical difficulties with the use of coal seams and deposits of oil shale and oil sand as potential sources of fuel. (CC)

Energy bandwidth studies of U.S. manufacturing sectors can serve as foundational references in framing the range (or bandwidth) of potentialenergy savings opportunities. This bandwidth study examines energy consumption and potentialenergy savings opportunities in U.S. chemical manufacturing. The study relies on multiple sources to estimate the energy used in the production of 74 individual chemicals, representing 57% of sector-wide energy consumption. Energy savings opportunities for individual chemicals and for 15 subsectors of chemicals manufacturing are based on technologies currently in use or under development; these potential savings are then extrapolated to estimate sector-wide energy savings opportunity.

Energy bandwidth studies of U.S. manufacturing sectors can serve as foundational references in framing the range (or bandwidth) of potentialenergy savings opportunities. This bandwidth study examines energy consumption and potentialenergy savings opportunities in U.S. petroleum refining. The study relies on multiple sources to estimate the energy used in nine individual process areas, representing 68% of sector-wide energy consumption. Energy savings opportunities for individual processes are based on technologies currently in use or under development; these potential savings are then extrapolated to estimate sector-wide energy savings opportunity.

This work investigates the chemical reactivity of four linear symmetrical monoethers with molecular oxygen. Such oxygenated compounds may be considered as potential diesel fuel additives in order to reduce the ignition delay in diesel fuel engines. For this purpose, a kinetic study is proposed to clarify the relation between the molecular structure of the fuel molecule and its ignition properties. To this end, DFT calculations were performed for these reactions using B3LYP/6-311G(d,p) and BH&HLYP/6-311G(d,p) to determine structures, energies, and vibrational frequencies of stationary points as well as activated complexes involved in each gas-phase combustion initiation reaction of the monoethers CH3OCH3, C2H5OC2H5, C3H7OC3H7, or C4H9OC4H9 with molecular oxygen. This theoretical kinetic study was carried out using electronic structure results and the transition state theory, to assess the rate constants for all studied combustion reactions. As it has been shown in our previous work [Abou-Rachid et al., J Mol Struct (Theochem) 2003, 621, 293], the cetane number (CN) of a pure organic molecule depends on the initiation rate of its homogeneous gas-phase reaction with molecular oxygen. Indeed, the calculated initiation rate constants of the H-abstraction process of linear monoethers with O2 show a very good correlation with experimental CN data of these pure compounds at T D 1,000 K. This temperature is representative of the operating conditions of a diesel fuel engine.0

The intermolecular potentialenergy surface of complex pairing argon with cyanogen molecule (NCCN) was calculated using the coupled cluster with single and double and perturbative triple excitations (CCSD(T)) with aug-cc-pvdz basis set extended with a set of mid-bond (3s3p2d1f1g) functions. The interaction energies were calculated by the supermolecular approach with the full counterpoise correction for the basis set superposition error. The calculatedpotentialenergies were fitted to an analytical expression. The calculated Ar-NCCN potentialenergy surface shows a global minimum at 3.35 Å, the distance between argon and centre of mass of cyanogen, for the T-shaped geometry and two local minimum at distance of 5.54 Å for the linear geometry on one side of cyanogen. Finally, the interaction second virial coefficients were calculated using the fitted potentialenergy surface and were compared with those obtained by the parameters of the Beattie-Bridgeman equation of states of pure argon and cyanogens fluids, approximately.

Sugarcane presents a tremendous potential as a renewable energy source for the non-oil producing countries of the Caribbean. The energy cane concept is sugarcane managed for maximum dry matter (total fermentable solids for alcohol fuel and combustible solids for electricity) rather than sucrose. The use of sugarcane as a renewable energy source can provide a solution, either partial or total, to the Caribbean energy problem. Sugar cane production and the use of this crop as a renewable energy source are described.

Our objective, has been to elucidate on a molecular level, at atomic resolution, the structures of DNAs modified by 2-aminofluorene and its N-acetyl derivative, 2-acetylaminofluorene (AAF). The underlying hypothesis is that DNA replicates with reduced fidelity when its normal right-handed B-structure is altered, and one result is a higher mutation rate. This change in structure may occur normally at a low incidence, for example by the formation of hairpin loops in appropriate sequences, but it may be enhanced greatly after covalent modification by a mutagenic substance. We use computational methods and have been able to incorporate the first data from NMR studies in our calculations. Computational approaches are important because x-ray and spectroscopic studies have not succeeded in producing atomic resolution views of mutagen and carcinogen-oligonucleotide adducts. The specific methods that we employ are minimized potentialenergycalculations using the torsion angle space molecular mechanics program DUPLEX to yield static views. Molecular dynamics simulations, with full solvent and salt, of the important static structures are carried out with the program AMBER; this yields mobile views in a medium that mimics the natural aqueous environment of the cell as well as can be done with current available computing resources.

This work introduces a new approach for calculating sensitivity coefficients for generalized neutronic responses to nuclear data uncertainties using continuous-energy Monte Carlo methods. The approach presented in this paper, known as the GEAR-MC method, allows for the calculation of generalized sensitivity coefficients for multiple responses in a single Monte Carlo calculation with no nuclear data perturbations or knowledge of nuclear covariance data. The theory behind the GEAR-MC method is presented here, and proof of principle is demonstrated by using the GEAR-MC method to calculate sensitivity coefficients for responses in several 3D, continuous-energy Monte Carlo applications.

Ensemble quantum algorithms are well suited to calculate estimates of the energy spectra for spin-lattice systems. Based on the phase estimation algorithm, these algorithms efficiently estimate discrete Fourier coefficients of the density of states. Their efficiency in calculating the free energy per spin of general spin lattices to bounded error is examined. We find that the number of Fourier components required to bound the error in the free energy due to the broadening of the density of states scales polynomially with the number of spins in the lattice. However, the precision with which the Fourier components must be calculated is found to be an exponential function of the system size.

By using the Löwdin-α function method, we have analytically calculated the two-center kinetic energy integrals over Slater type orbitals (STOs). The two-center kinetic energy integrals are presented in terms of the two-center overlap integrals. A new approach is applicable to accurate calculations of two-center kinetic energy integral over STOs for arbitrary values of scaling parameters and interatomic distances. Obtained results show that the proposed method is easy to apply to the real systems, and has better calculation CPU time with compared to the existing approximations.

A novel approach employing Exterior Complex Scaling (ECS) and discrete grid methods is used to calculate molecular resonance energies and widths for the 2Πg shape resonance state of N2-and 2Πu shape resonance of CO2-.These calculations are performed using a Finite Element Discrete Variable Representation (FE-DVR) in prolate spheroidal coordinates with an atomic center placed at each of the foci of the coordinate system, thereby preserving the cusp condition at those sites. A separable approximation to the interaction potential is made from the matrices of the nuclear attraction, direct and exchange operators generated by an existing quantum chemistry structure code in a Gaussian basis. These potentials are then represented on our ECS FE-DVR grid allowing the calculation of complex-valued resonance energies. The method is demonstrated here in the static-exchange approximation. Work supported by NSFGRF DGE1148897, USDOE, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences Division.

Protein structure prediction directly from sequences is a very challenging problem in computational biology. One of the most successful approaches employs stochastic conformational sampling to search an empirically derived energy function landscape for the global energy minimum state. Due to the errors in the empirically derived energy function, the lowest energy conformation may not be the best model. We have evaluated the use of energycalculated by the fragment molecular orbital method (FMO energy) to assess the quality of predicted models and its ability to identify the best model among an ensemble of predicted models. The fragment molecular orbital method implemented in GAMESS was used to calculate the FMO energy of predicted models. When tested on eight protein targets, we found that the model ranking based on FMO energies is better than that based on empirically derived energies when there is sufficient diversity among these models. This model diversity can be estimated prior to the FMO energycalculations. Our result demonstrates that the FMO energycalculated by the fragment molecular orbital method is a practical and promising measure for the assessment of protein model quality and the selection of the best protein model among many generated.

In addition to presenting comparative calculations by two approaches for the total lattice potentialenergy of sodium bromide dihydrate, NaBr · 2H 2O, found to take the value 803.9 kJ mol -1, we investigate the influence of the size and nature of the basis set used to generate multipole moments in a Hartee-Fock calculation which are in turn used to calculate the Madelung constant. The requirement is one of critical size of the basis set and once this is reached the electrostatic energy will be reliable.

Free energycalculations based on molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have seen a tremendous growth in the last decade. However, it is still difficult and tedious to set them up in an automated manner, as the majority of the present-day MD simulation packages lack that functionality. Relative free energycalculations are a particular challenge for several reasons, including the problem of finding a common substructure and mapping the transformation to be applied. Here we present a tool, alchemical-setup.py, that automatically generates all the input files needed to perform relative solvation and binding free energycalculations with the MD package GROMACS. When combined with Lead Optimization Mapper (LOMAP; Liu et al. in J Comput Aided Mol Des 27(9):755-770, 2013), recently developed in our group, alchemical-setup.py allows fully automated setup of relative free energycalculations in GROMACS. Taking a graph of the planned calculations and a mapping, both computed by LOMAP, our tool generates the topology and coordinate files needed to perform relative free energycalculations for a given set of molecules, and provides a set of simulation input parameters. The tool was validated by performing relative hydration free energycalculations for a handful of molecules from the SAMPL4 challenge (Mobley et al. in J Comput Aided Mol Des 28(4):135-150, 2014). Good agreement with previously published results and the straightforward way in which free energycalculations can be conducted make alchemical-setup.py a promising tool for automated setup of relative solvation and binding free energycalculations.

The authors report calculations of the intermolecular potential of mean force (PMF) in the case of the host-guest interaction. The host-guest system is defined by a water soluble calixarene and a cation. With an organic cation such as the tetramethylammonium cation, the calixarene forms an insertion complex, whereas with the Lanthane cation, the supramolecular assembly is an outer-sphere complex. The authors apply a modified free energy perturbation method and the force constraint technique to establish the PMF profiles as a function of the separation distance between the host and guest. They use the PMF profile for the calculation of the absolute thermodynamic properties of association that they compare to the experimental values previously determined. They finish by giving some structural features of the insertion and outer-sphere complexes at the Gibbs free energy minimum.

Recent advances in electronic structure theory and the availability of high speed vector processors have substantially increased the accuracy of ab initio potentialenergy surfaces. The recently developed atomic natural orbital approach for basis set contraction has reduced both the basis set incompleteness and superposition errors in molecular calculations. Furthermore, full CI calculations can often be used to calibrate a CASSCF/MRCI approach that quantitatively accounts for the valence correlation energy. These computational advances also provide a vehicle for systematically improving the calculations and for estimating the residual error in the calculations. Calculations on selected diatomic and triatomic systems will be used to illustrate the accuracy that currently can be achieved for molecular systems. In particular, the F+H2 yields HF+H potentialenergy hypersurface is used to illustrate the impact of these computational advances on the calculation of potentialenergy surfaces.

Recent advances in electronic structure theory and the availability of high speed vector processors have substantially increased the accuracy of ab initio potentialenergy surfaces. The recently developed atomic natural orbital approach for basis set contraction has reduced both the basis set incompleteness and superposition errors in molecular calculations. Furthermore, full CI calculations can often be used to calibrate a CASSCF/MRCI approach that quantitatively accounts for the valence correlation energy. These computational advances also provide a vehicle for systematically improving the calculations and for estimating the residual error in the calculations. Calculations on selected diatomic and triatomic systems will be used to illustrate the accuracy that currently can be achieved for molecular systems. In particular, the F + H2 yields HF + H potentialenergy hypersurface is used to illustrate the impact of these computational advances on the calculation of potentialenergy surfaces.

Spectroscopic constants (R{sub e},{omega}{sub e},T{sub e},{mu}{sub e}) and potentialenergy curves for 40 low-lying electronic states of the diatomic tungsten carbide (WC) were obtained using the complete active space multiconfiguration self-consistent field followed by the multireference singles+doubles configuration interaction and full first- and second-order configuration interaction calculations that included up to 6.4 mil configurations. Spin-orbit effects were included through the enhanced relativistic configuration interaction method described here for 28 electronic states of WC lying below {approx}20 000 cm-1. The spin-orbit splitting of the ground state of WC was found to be very large (4394 cm-1). The ground and excited electronic states of the W atom were also computed and were found to be in good agreement with the experimental data. The nature of bonding was analyzed through the composition of orbitals, leading configurations, Mulliken populations, and dipole moments. The dissociation energy of WC was computed including spin-orbit and electron correlation effects. The recent photoelectron spectra of WC{sup -} were assigned on the basis of our computed results. (c) 2000 American Institute of Physics.

The solid-fluid coexistence properties of the n - 6 Lennard-Jones system, n from 7 to 12, are reported. The procedure relies on determining Helmholtz free energy curves as a function of volume for each phase independently, from several NVT simulations, and then connecting it to points of known absolute free energy. For n = 12 this requires connecting the simulated points to states of very low densities on the liquid phase, and to a harmonic crystal for the solid phase, which involves many extra simulations for each temperature. For the reference points of the remaining systems, however, the free energy at a given density and temperature can be calculated relative to the n = 12 system. The method presented here involves a generalization of the multiple histogram method to combine simulations performed with different potentials, provided they visit overlapping regions of the phase space, and allows for a precise calculation of relative free energies. The densities, free energies, average potentialenergies, pressure, and chemical potential at coexistence are presented for up to T∗ = 5.0 and new estimations of the triple points are given for the n - 6 Lennard-Jones system.

The understanding of the potential curves of a given molecule has expanded in many ways during my last 52 years as an experimental and theoretical molecular chemist/physicist in graduate school in Chemistry at Harvard and in both the Chemistry and Physics Departments at University of Iowa and University of Connecticut. This expansion has been up in energy and vibrational and rotational quantum numbers and away from Re to long range as well. It is clear that Prof. Robert Le Roy, who I have known since the late 1960s, has made many important and greatly appreciated contributions to the landscape I describe below from my personal perspective, especially with regard to long range molecules and solution of the radial Schrödinger equations and related calculations.

To predict the chemical activity of new matter is an ultimate goal in chemistry. The identification of reaction pathways using modern quantum mechanics calculations, however, often requires a high demand in computational power and good chemical intuition on the reaction. Here, a new reaction path searching method is developed by combining our recently developed transition state (TS) location method, namely, the constrained Broyden dimer method, with a basin-filling method via bias potentials, which allows the system to walk out from the energy traps at a given reaction direction. In the new method, the reaction path searching starts from an initial state without the need for preguessing the TS-like or final state structure and can proceed iteratively to the final state by locating all related TSs and intermediates. In each elementary reaction step, a reaction direction, such as a bond breaking, needs to be specified, the information of which is refined and preserved as a normal mode through biased dimer rotation. The method is tested successfully on the Baker reaction system (50 elementary reactions) with good efficiency and stability and is also applied to the potentialenergy surface exploration of multistep reaction processes in the gas phase and on the surface. The new method can be applied for the computational screening of new catalytic materials with a minimum requirement of chemical intuition.

A polarization potential V(pol) for e-N2 collisions is calculated by the generalization of the static part of the method of polarized orbitals to molecular targets. Partial differential equations (PDE) are derived for polarized orbitals, which are functions of the distance (r) from the molecular center and angle (theta) from the molecular axis. The equations are solved with the use of the noniterative PDE technique. From the polarized orbitals a polarization potential can be constructed whose r and theta dependence is found to be significantly different from the well-known phenomenological one. The two potentials are further compared by carrying out limited hybrid-theory scattering calculations. Only those scattering results based on the calculated V(pol) are in satisfactory accord with experiment.

During the expedition to the North Pole, the food consumption rates were calculated on a regular basis. The mean daily energy losses of the participants of the expedition, the energy losses during skiing with a rucksack across the drifting ice were estimated and the energy metabolism curve by days was built up. The body weight of the participants averaged 78 +/- 5 kg. This made it possible to perform an overall calculation per whole group. The total energy supply with food was appraised from the total amount of the food consumed during the expedition. The total body weight loss of the participants was 11.5 kg, the energy consumption being 100.000 kkal. The total (for 7 men) energy consumption during skiing without a rucksack was calculated according to the formula: [(2,770 kkal X 28.5 days)]+ +[(2,385 kkal X 35.5 days)]. It was thus found to be equal to 1.145.300 kkal. The total energy consumption during skiing with a rucksack was calculated according to the formula: (7 men X X 449 h) and was found to be equal to 1.883.200 kkal. The total energy consumption during the expedition amounted to 3.237.500 kkal. During the expedition, the daily energy deficiency per man was 1.300-1.500 kkal. This deficiency was compensated for during rest. The maintenance of such an energy supply pattern made it possible to preserve a high level of work fitness.

The background of the area itself is investigated considering the geography, population, economy, attitudes of residents, and energy demands of the area. The requirements for geothermal energy development are considered, including socio-economic, institutional, and environmental conditions as well as some technical aspects. The current, proposed, and potential geothermal energy developments are described. The summary, conclusions, and methodology are included. (MHR)

The surface free energy of polymeric films of polyvinylchloride (PVC) + poly(ethylene-co-vinylacetate) (EVA) blends was calculated using the van Oss treatment (Lifshitz and electron donor-electron acceptor components of surface free energy) and the Owens-Wendt treatment (dispersive and nondispersive components of surface free energy). Surface free energy results were found to be greatly dependent on the calculation method and on the number of standard liquids used for contact angle measurements. The nondispersive/donor-acceptor surface free energy component and the total surface free energy of polymeric films were always higher when the van Oss treatment was used compared to the Owens-Wendt treatment. Conversely, both methods led to similar apolar/Lifshitz components. All the calculation methods were in good agreement for the surface free energy of PVC; however, a discrepancy between the methods arose as EVA content in the blends increased. It seems that there is not yet a definite solution for the calculation of solid surface free energy. Further developments of existing models are needed in order to gain consistency when calculating this important physicochemical quantity. Copyright 1998 Academic Press.

Effective (mass-dependent) potentialenergy curves of the ground electronic states of 9BeH, 9BeD, and 9BeT are constructed by morphing a very accurate MR-ACPF ab initio potential of Koput (2011) within the framework of the reduced potentialenergy curve approach of Jenč (1983). The morphing is performed by fitting the RPC parameters to available experimental ro-vibrational data. The resulting potentialenergy curves provide a fairly quantitative reproduction of the fitted data. This allows for a reliable prediction of the so-far unobserved molecular states in terms of only a small number of fitting parameters.

Separate abstracts were prepared for the ten papers of this proceedings of a workshop held at Brookhaven National Laboratory in 1980. The purposes of this proceedings are to provide a preliminary identificaton and assessment of environmental hazards which might be realistically associated with growth of the photovoltaic industry, and to provide a reference for environmental considerations by obtaining a 1980 state-of-the-art assessment of growth anticipated for the industry. Currently the industry is considered to be in the early stages of development and several possible technological options are available for large-scale manufacturing as the industry grows. Estimates of the industrial emissions of materials considered to be potentially harmful in the environment were obtained by several different analytical methods. (KRM)

We propose a fully ab initio method, the opposing crystal potential (OCP), to calculate the crystal-field parameters of transition-metal impurities in insulator hosts. Through constrained density functional calculations, OCP obtains the constraining Lagrange multipliers, which act as a cancellation potential against the crystal field and lead to spherical d-electron distribution. Furthermore, the method is applied to several insulators doped with Mn4+ and Mn2+ ions and shown to be in good agreement with experiment.

This paper discusses the technologies, opportunities, and problems of energy-from-refuse systems. Topics considered include the direct combustion of as-received refuse, the mass-burn systems, the combustion of refuse-derived fuel, and the production of methane gas from the organic and cellulosic fraction of solid waste. A DOE-sponsored methane plant operated by Waste Management is now being evaluated at Pompano Beach, Florida. The Europeans have moved ahead so rapidly in the beneficial use of heat from the combustion of their solid waste because of the availability of a ready market for the heat in municipal facilities and/or town district heating systems. It is suggested that the use of the heat from the combustion of solid waste should be broadened to include district heating and cooling, complementary municipal functions (e.g. the disposal of sludges from wastewater treatment), integration in power generation facilities in uses other than direct production of power (e.g. boiler feedwater heating), and in industrial processing.

We calculate the total kinetic and excitation energies of fragments produced in the thermal-induced fission of {sup 239}Pu. This result is a proof-of-principle demonstration for a microscopic approach to the calculation of fission-fragment observables for applied data needs. In addition, the calculations highlight the application of a fully quantum mechanical description of scission, and the importance of exploring scission configurations as a function of the moments of the fragments, rather than through global constraints on the moments of the fissioning nucleus. Using a static microscopic calculation of configurations at and near scission, we have identified fission fragments for the {sup 239}Pu (n{sub th}, f) reaction and extracted their total kinetic and excitation energies. Comparison with data shows very good overall agreement between theory and experiment. Beyond their success as a proof of principle, these calculations also highlight the importance of local constraints on the fragments themselves in microscopic calculations.

Electron binding energies in neutral atoms have been calculated relativistically, with the requirement of complete relaxation. Hartree-Fock-Slater wave functions served as zeroth-order eigenfunctions to compute the expectation of the total Hamiltonian. A first-order correction to the local approximation was thus included. Quantum-electrodynamic corrections were made. For all elements with atomic numbers ranging from 2 to 106, the following quantities are listed: total energies, electron kinetic energies, electron-nucleus potentialenergies, electron-electron potentialenergies consisting of electrostatic and Breit interaction (magnetic and retardation) terms, and vacuum polarization energies. Binding energies including relaxation are listed for all electrons in all atoms over the indicated range of atomic numbers. A self-energy correction is included for the 1s, 2s, and 2p(1/2) levels. Results for selected atoms are compared with energiescalculated by other methods and with experimental values.

The Penman-Monteith combination equation, which is most frequently used to derive the surface conductance to water vapour (Gs), implicitly assumes the energy balance to be closed. Any energy imbalance (positive or negative) will thus affect the calculated Gs. Using eddy covariance energy flux data from a temperate grassland and a desert shrub ecosystem we explored five possible approaches of closing the energy imbalance and show that calculated Gs may differ considerably between these five approaches depending on the relative magnitudes of sensible and latent heat fluxes, and the magnitude and sign of the energy imbalance. Based on our limited understanding of the nature of the energy imbalance, we tend to favour an approach which preserves the Bowen-ratio and closes the energy balance on a larger time scale. PMID:24465070